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ENGBJWED  FHOM  A  SPECIAL  PHOTO  GRAPH  EXPHB  SSLY  FOP.  THIS  VOHK . 
A .D  ."WOUTHINGTOIT  &  C O-PUBLI SBER  S,  JiAB.TFORD ,  C  0  NJ^  . 


OUR  JOUKNEY 

AROUND  THE  WORLD 

^n  3:llustratrti  EcrortJ  of  a  grar's  ^Trabrl 


OF   FORTV   THOUSAND   JIII.E.S   TlIliOUGH 


INDIA,  CHINA,    JAPAN,    AUSTRALIA,  NEW  ZEALAND,   EGYPT,    PAL- 
ESTINE, GliEECE,  TURKEY,  ITALY,  FRANCE,  SPAIN,  Etc. 


BY 


Rev.   FRANCIS  E.    CLARK,   D.D. 

^ugiticnt  of  tijc  Santtrli  ^ocirtg  of  (Ttristian  IHutiralJor 


AVITH 


GLIMPSES  OF  LIFE  IN  FAR  OFF  LANDS 

^s  Srm  E|)rouglj  a  SE Oman's  lEgcs 

BY 

Mrs.  Harriet  E.  Clark 

WITH    STEEL-PLATE    POKTRAITS,  AND   UPWARDS   OF    TWO  HUNDRED  CHOICE 

ENGRAVINGS,  MAINLY  FROM  INSTANTANEOUS  PHOTOGRAPHS  TAKEN 

FROM    LIFE,    REPRODUCED    IN    FACSIMILE    BY    EMINENT 

ARTISTS;  AND  A  MAP  SHOWING  THE  AUTHOR'S 

JOURNEY  AROUND   THE  WORLD 


SOLD   ONLY  BY  SUBSCRIPTION 


HARTFORD,    CONN. 
A.  D.  WOPvTHINGTON  &  CO.,  PUBLISHERS 

1894 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1894, 

By  a.  D.  Worthington  &  Company, 

111  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


^0  TKIlbOm  It  /IRai2  Concern:  — Notice  is  hereby  given  by  the  puWishers^ 

'^  sale  of  this  book,  "  OUR  JOURNEY  AROUND 

THE  WORLD,"  by  subscription  only,  is  protected  by  decisions  of  the  United  States  Courts. 
These  decisions  are  by  the  U.  S.  Circuit  Court  of  Ohio,  rendered  by  Judge  Hammond,  and  by 
the  U.  S.  Circuit  Court  of  Pennsylvania,  rendered  by  Judge  Butler,  and  are  that  "  when  a  sub- 
scription book  publishing  house,  in  connection  with  the  author,  elects  to  sell  a  book  purely 
by  subscription  unA  does  so  sell  i<,  through  agents  that  are  agents  in  the  legal  sense  and  not 
independent  purchasers  of  the  books,  the  house  and  author  are  entitled  to  the  protection  of 
the  Courts  against  any  bookseller  who  invades  their  rights  by  an  attempt  to  buy  and  sell  a 
book  so  pubfished  and  sold." 

Hence,  this  is  to  notify  booksellers  and  the  public  that  all  our  agents  are  under  contract, 
as  our  agents,  to  sell  this  book  by  subscription  only.  They  have  no  right  whatever  to  sell  it 
in  any  other  way,  as  books  are  furnished  to  them  only  for  delivery  to  individual  subscribers; 
and  any  interference  with  our  agents  to  induce  them  to  sell  contrary  to  their  contract  obliga- 
tions and  our  rights,  or  any  sale  of  this  book  by  any  one  not  an  authorized  agent  will  entitle 
us  to  the  protection  of  the  Courts. 

Notice  is  also  hereby  given  that  this  copy  of  "  OUR  JOURNEY  AROUND  THE 
WORLD  "  can  be  identified  wherever  found  together  with  the  name  of  the  agent  to  whom  the 
publishers  supplied  it;  and  the  detection  of  the  person  selling  it  to  the  trade,  and  the  offer- 
ing of  it  tor  sale  by  a  bookseller  will  be  sufficient  justification  for  us  to  institute  summary 
proceedings  against  both  bookseller  and  agent. 

We  trust  this  notice  will  be  received  in  the  kindly  spirit  in  which  it  is  given,  as  it  is  made 
simply  lo  protect  the  author,  ourselves,  and  our  agents  against  infringements  which  rob  us  of 
the  legitimate  fruits  of  our  labor  and  investment. 

Af^ents  and  ail  other  persons  are  requested  to  inform  us  at  once  of  the  offering  of  this 
boon,  for  sale  by  any  bookseller,  or  Viy  any  person  not  our  accredited  agent. 

THE  PUBLISHERS. 


DeDicateD 

TO 

Q;be  3Fatber  anD  /Iftotber 

WHO 

FOLLOWED    THIS    JOURNEY 

WITH 

LG^^XG   INTEREST  AND  EARNEST  PRAYERS 


f^mfmBms 


HIS  book  is  a  record  of  a  long 
journev.  such  as,  owing  to  the 
peculiar  circumstances  attending 
it,  does  not  often  fall  to  the  lot  of 
man  to  make.  The  ordinary  trip 
around  the  Avurld  — •  a  common 
enouoch  thine-  in  these  davs  — 
larofelv  follows  certain  well-de- 
fined  routes  of  travel  from  Amer- 
ica to  Japan,  China,  India,  Eg3^pt, 
Palestine,  and  thence  to  America 
again,  via  Europe.  The  traveler 
necessarily  is  obliged  to  keep  in  these  lanes  of  travel, 
especially  in  tlie  far  East,  and  the  objects  he  sees  are  largely 
those  which  the  guide-ljook  and  a  paid  conductor  point  out 
to  him. 

In  the  journey  described  in  these  pages  Ave  were  "  per- 
sonally conducted'-  hy  kind  friends,  familiar  residents  of 
every  country  which  we  visited.  AVe  were  able  to  see 
])hases  of  life  and  national  characteristics  usually  denied  the 
hasty  traveler,  and  we  have  tried  to  share  them  with  our 
readers,  and  in  our  tour  to  conduct  them  over  the  same 
route  made  so  pleasant  for  us. 

(vii) 


VIU  PREFACE. 

Some  months  before  this  journey  began  we  received 
numerous  pressing  and  hearty  invitations  to  visit  Christian 
Endeavor  conventions  in  the  different  colonies  of  Australia. 

These  invitations  were  supplemented  by  many  others 
from  missionaries  and  other  residents  in  Japan,  China,  India, 
Turkey,  Spain,  France,  and  England.  It  was  to  attend 
these  conventions  and  to  visit  these  mission  stations  that  the 
journey  was  undertaken.  At  the  same  time,  though  the 
conventions  and  other  engagements  were  very  numerous, 
leisure  was  afforded  between  the  meetings  for  sight-seeing, 
which  was  made  doubly  valuable  by  oui*  kind  and  generous 
hosts  who  served  so  often  as  our  guides,  piloting  us  to  the 
very  spots  we  wanted  to  visit,  and  showing  us  the  oddities 
and  unique  customs  and  ways  of  living  which  otherwise  we 
should  have  missed.  They  often  took  us  into  the  homes  of 
the  natives,  and  introduced  us  to  their  manner  of  domestic 
life. 

To  these  hosts  and  guides,  whose  kindness,  if  space  per- 
mitted, I  should  like  to  acknowledge  in  detail,  and  whose 
names  I  should  like  to  record  in  full,  is  due  an^^thing  of 
special  or  unique  interest  that  may  be  found  in  these  pages. 

Little  is  said  about  the  special  object  of  the  journey,  or 
the  scores  of  meetings  we  attended,  or  the  many  delightful 
conventions  in  which  we  had  part.  The  relation  of  the 
journey  to  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  has  been  dis- 
cussed in  other  publications,  and  this  volume  is  distinctly  a 
book  of  travel. 

Yet,  though  it  contains  little  moralizing,  it  is  devoutly 
hoped  that  these  pictures  of  life  and  scenes  in  many  lands 
may  create  a  warm  interest  in  the  heart  of  every  reader  in 
the  people  to  whom  English-speaking  missionaries  have 
gone,  and  in  the  noble  work  that  these  missionaries  are 
doing;  and  that  these  pictures  may  also  illustrate  the  world- 


PREFACE. 


IX 


wide  brotherhootl,  iiiul  blessed  international  and  interdenomi- 
national fellowship,  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement. 

It  only  remains  to  be  said  that  the  names  of  two  of  the 
"pilgrims"  may  be  fonnd  upon  the  title  page,  and  that  ''the 
little  pilgrim  "  was  a  lad  of  thu'teen,  who,  to  say  the  least, 
got  quite  as  much  fun  out  of  the  trip  as  did  his  father  and 
mother. 

As  may  be  imagined,  the  journey  was  not,  by  any  means, 
a  mere  holiday  trip,  though  the  holiday  side  of  it  is  usually 
])resented  in  these  chapters. 

A  supplementary  chapter  will  give  members  of  En- 
deavor societies,  and  others  particularly  interested,  some 
knowledge  of  the  results  of  the  journey ;  while  the  addi- 
tional chapters  from  the  feminine  pilgrim  Avill  show^  her  sis- 
ters some  glimpses  of  life  in  far-off  lands,  and  tell  how  the 
wide  world  looks  through  a  woman's  eyes. 


yJiiU'i^c^  Cc,  C^fif^O^^C^ 


^^~ 


imm^mmmB 


Shown  in  Red  Lines  on  the  Map. 

FROM  Boston  to  New  York  ;  thence  to  San  Francisco  ; 
thence    to   Ilonohihi,   Sandwich    Islands;    thence    to 
Samoa,    Navigator's    Islands ;    thence    to   Auckland, 
New  Zealand ;  thence  to  Sydney,  Australia  ;  thence  by  rail 
.  to  Melbourne  and  Adelaide,  and  return  same  way  to  Bris- 
bane ;    from  Brisbane  bv  sea  to  Port  Darwin :    thence  to 
Hong  Kong ;  thence  by  land  to  Canton,  and  return  to  Hong 
Kong ;    thence   to   Yokohama ;   thence   by   rail   to   Tokio ; 
thence  by  rail  to  Kioto  and  Kobe ;  thence  to  Shanghai  by 
sea ;  thence  to  Hong  Kong  again  by  water ;  thence  to  Co- 
lombo, Ceylon,  through  the  Straits  of  Sumatra ;  thence  to 
Tuticorin,  in  Southern  India  ;   thence   by  rail  to  Madras ; 
thence  by  water  to  Calcutta  ;  thence  overland  across  North- 
ern  India,    via  Lucknow   and   Agra,  to   Bombay;    thence 
across  the  Arabian  Sea  and  through  the  Bed  Sea  to  Ismalia; 
thence    by   rail   to  Cairo ;   thence   by  rail   to  Alexandria ; 
thence  by  sea  to  Jaffa ;  thence  to  Jerusalem  and  back  to 
Jaffa  by  rail ;  thence  by  sea  to  Beyrout ;  thence  by  sea  to 
Mersin ;    thence    overland    through   Turkey,   through    the 
Cilician  Gates,  oria  Caesarea  and  Angora,  to  Constantinople  ; 
thence    bv   water   to  Athens ;    thence   bv  rail   to  Patras ; 
thence   by   water  to   Brindisi ;    thence   by  rail   to  Naples, 
Rome,  Genoa,  and  Marseilles,  to  San  Sebastian  in  Spain ; 
thence   to  Paris,  London,   Glasgow,  Belfast,   and    Dublin ; 
thence  to  Liverpool;  thence  to  Queenstown;  thence  to  New 
York. 

(X) 


Co  nj^  . 


1 


\ 


(niaiiifg  from  ^^jeciaf  ^^oio^vap^B  ia^tn  from  ^tfe  cr^reBcfg  for 
i^xB  n3}or6.    QRe^jrobuceb  in  SacBimife  6g  (Sminenf  (^rfiBte. 


Portrait  of  Rev.  Francis  E.  Clark.  D.  D.  (^uii  ^age),     Frontispiece. 

Engraved  on  Steel  by  John  J.  Cade,  from  a  Photograph  taken  expressly  for  this  work. 


PAGE. 


Ornamental  Heading  to  Preface,   . 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 

EngrIved  Autograph  op  Francis  E.  Clark 

The  Steamship  Mariposa, 

Ornamental  Heading  to  Itinerary  of  the  Author's  Journey 
New  Imperial  Map  of  the  World  i^u?(  Cp<*S^\     •        •      -^^  J"^^ 

Showing  the  Author's  "Journey  Around  the  World  "  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end.  (Engraved  and  printed  by  W.  &  A.  K.  Johnston,  Edinburgh,  Scotland, 
expressly  for  this  work.) 

Orn.\mental  Heading  to  List  of  Illustrations, 

Ornamental  Tail  Piece, 

Ornamental  Heading  to  Table  of  Contents, 
Ornamental  Heading,  Chapter  I, 
Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 


Diagram  of  a  Shuffle-Board,   . 
Ornamental  Tail  Piece, 
Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 
Young  Swim.mers  of  Honolulu, 
Samoan  Girls  Making  Kava, 
All  that  Remains  of  the  "Adler," 

A  Maori  House, 

Maori  Idols, 

Ornamental  Tail  Piece, 
Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 


7 
7 
9 
9 

10- 
10 


19 
30 
21 
37 
37 
46 
49 
50 
52 
62 
63 
65 
66 
67 
68 


(xiii) 


XIV 


LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE. 

Male  Aboriginal  Australian, 72 

Female  Aboriginal  Australian, 78 

Aboriginal  Method  of  Producing  Fire, 74 

In  the  Grounds  op  Government  House,  Sydney,        ...  77 

In  the  Bush, 83 

Ornamental  Tail  Piece, 84 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 85 

In  Adelaide, 87 

Ornamental  Tail  Piece, 99 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter,    .        .        .        .        ,        . ,      •        ■  100 

Aboriginal  Australian, 104 

In  one  of  Melbourne's  Parks, 109^ 

Ready  for  the  Descent  into  a  Gold  Mine,         ....  Ill 

Ornamental  Tail  Piece 114 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 115 

In  a  Corner  of  the   Steerage   Deck — Chinese   Gambling   on 
Shipboard,     (^uff  Opagc.     From  an  instantaneous  photograph.) 

To  face  122 

Squatting  on  their  haunches  in  a  corner  of  the  steerage  deck  was  another 
circle  of  Chinese  Gamblers,  throwing  dice  and  playing  cards  with  a  dexterity 
acquired  only  by  long  experience.  They  were  smoking  cigarettes,  or  curious 
pipes  with  minute  bowls,  which  when  not  in  use  they  tucked  behind  their  ears 
until  they  desired  another  whifif. 

Aboriginal  Australian,    .        , 125 

"Backy,"  "Backy," 129 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 131 

A  Young  Citizen  of  Port  Darwin, 135 

A  North  Queensland  Aboriginal, 136' 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 148 

A  Chinese  Forge, - 151 

A  Chinese  Execution.  {From  an  instantaneous  pTiotograpli.)  .  .  155 
Placing  the  Head  of  an  Executed  Crimin.vl  in  a  Basket. 

{From  an  instantaneous  photograph.)    ......  156 

Taking   a   Condemned  Pirate   to   the    Place    of    Execution. 

(Suff  Cbage.     From  an  instantaneous  photograph.)       .      To  face  156 

Prisoners  under  sentence  of  death  wear  bamboo  yokes  when  they  are  taken  to 
the  place  of  execution.  The  head  of  the  prisoner  is  placed  between  two  rigid 
bamboo  bars,  one  in  front,  and  the  other  at  the  back  of  the  neck,  while  two 
shorter  bars  rest  across  the  shoulders  and  fasten  the  long  side  bars  together. 
The  headsman  accompanies  the  procession  to  the  field  of  execution  holding  his 
keen  blade  aloft,  followed  by  a  crowd  of  spectators. 

Coolies  Pumping  Water  for  Rice  Fields, 
Ornamental  Tail  Piece,    . 
Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 


Fishing  with  Cormor.\nts, 
Prisoners  in  a  Canton  Jail, 
Ornamental  Tail  Piece,   . 
Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 


159 
163 
164 
169 
171 
17& 
179 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


XV 


O.N  THE  Pearl  River, 

Ornamental  Tail  Piece, 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 

Dress  of  Japanese  Women,  showing  the  Obi, 

A  Rural  Scene  in  Japan,  

A   Tea   Drd^ker's   Paradise— Gatherlng   the  Crop  on   a   Tea 
Plantation.     (Suff  Ct)a0e.    From  an  instantaneous  photograph.) 

To  face 

The  long  rows  of  tea  plants  look  like  the  bunches  of  box  with  which  the 
borders  of  old-fashioned  flower  gardens  were  once  made,  only  the  tea  plants  are 
much  larger.  When  the  crop  is  matured  the  tea  garden  is  full  of  pickers,  native 
men  and  women  in  bright  costumes  working  side  by  side. 

Ornamental  Tail  Piece, 

Ornamental  Initiax  Letter, . 

In  Winter  Costume 

A  Native  Japanese  Grist  Mill.     {%\xii  Cpcige.     From  an  instan- 
taneous photograph.) To  face 

One  coolie  threshes  the  rice  straw"  over  the  iron  teeth  of  a  primitive  flail  which 
looks  like  a  carpenter's  wooden  horse,  while  another  winnows  the  grain  by  pour- 
ing it  over  a  rude  sieve,  allowing  the  wind  to  blow  away  the  chaff  ;  while  still 
another  coolie  grinds  the  rice  in  a  mill  laboriously  tunied  by  hand. 

A  Jap.anese  Fruit  Store, 

Japanese  Umbrella  Makers, . 

In  a  Jap.ynese  Barber  Shop, 

The  Villainous  Daikon 

The  Baby  in  Japan.     (5uff  Cpage.     From  an  instarotaneous  photo- 

qraph.) To  face 

Sometimes  the  baby  has  another  doll  baby  on  its  back,  and  I  have  actually 
seen  a  small  doll  on  the  big  doll's  back,  a  big  doll  on  the  small  boy's  back,  and 
a  small  boy  on  his  big  brother's  back  ;  four  generations,  as  it  were,  together. 


PAGE. 

184 
190 
191 
201 
203 


A  Japan-ese  Peasant, 

A   JnSTRIKISHA, 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 

Dignified  Damsels  at  Tea, 

A  Japanese  Ceremonial   Tea  —  The  Thirty-third  Degree  op 
Exquisite  Politeness.     (Suff  Cpage.     From  an  instantaneous 
photograph.)     .........      To  face 

For  three  hundred  years  the  "  Ceremonial  Tea  "  has  been  an  institution  of 
Japanese  life,  and  ceremonial  tea  making  is  taught  in  the  modern  schools  of  the 
government,  as  it  is  thought  to  give  dignity  and  grace  and  a  kind  of  solemn 
lesBon  in  etiquette.  It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  preciseness,  suavity,  and 
dignified  solemnity  with  which  every  movement  is  performed. 

In  a  Bamboo  Forest,  .... 

Gathering  the  Tea  Crop, 

In  the  Land  of  the  Japonica, 

Entrance  to  Xagata  Temple,  Kobe, 

A  Japanese  Idol  and  Temple, 

A  Buddhist  Shrine,    .... 


20.> 


205 
206 
211 

215 


216- 
217 
21^ 
222 

99,-i. 


226 

228 

23a 

231 


236 


23t^ 
240 
242 
345 
346 
24S 


XVI 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE. 

An  Inland  YriiLAGE, 249 

A  Wayside  Shrine, 250 

A  Japanese  Farmer 253 

Japanese  Acrobats, 255 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 257 

A  Chinese  Rice  Mill 263 

A  Chinese  Paper  Mill, 265 

"Hitting  the  Pipe," 267 

Opium  Fiends 268 

A  Leper  Girl  op  Shanghai, 270 

A  Juvenile  Chinese  Orchestra,      ...  ...  271 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter 279 

Sacred  White  Oxen, 280 

The  Bullock  Cart, 282 

The  Famous  Basket  Trick, 287 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 294 

Natives  of  Southern  India 299 

A  Native  Village  of  Southern  India, 301 

Jewels  of  India, 303 

Grlnding  Curry, 304 

Ornamental  Tail  Piece, .        .  310 

Ornamental  Initiai-  Letter 311 

A  Band   of   Native   Indian  Jugglers   and   Snake    Charmers. 
(Suff  Cpcige.     From  an  instantaneous  photograph.)       .      To  face 

"If  this  snake  should  bite  you,"  said  one  of  these  gentry,  at  the  same  time 
opening  one  of  the  baskets,  "you  will  die  in  fifteen  minutes.  If  this  one 
should  bile  you,"  opening  another  basket,  "  you  will  die  in  ten  minutes."  Open- 
ing still  another  basket,  he  remarked  coolly,  "  If  he  should  bite  you,  you  will  die 
hi  five  minutes,"  and  still  another  basket  was  opened  with  the  blood-curdling 
announcement,  "  If  this  snake  should  bite  you,  you  will  die  in  one  minute." 

The  Great  Temple  of  Madura 

The  Painted  Corridor  in  the  Temple  of  Madura, 
The  Sacred  Tank  of  Madura,         .... 
Interior  of  the  Great  Palace  op  Madura, 

The  Sacred  Bull  of  Siva, 

Weavers  in  the  Streets  op -Madras, 
Child  on  a  Leaf  of  the  Victoria  Regia, 

The  Popular  Madras  Hunt, 

A  Wedding  Procession  in  India.     (Suff  Cbage.     From 
taneous  photograph.) 

Three  silent  treading,  knock-kneed,  ragged  camels  led  the  way,  covered  with 
bright  cloths  and  much  tinsel.  There  seemed  to  be  little  life  or  merriment 
about  the  procession,  and  I  presume  the  poor  young  girl  who  was  going  to  the 
home  of  her  aged  husband,  whom,  perhaps,  she  has  never  seen,  felt  as  melan- 
choly as  the  solemn  procession  seemed  to  indicate. 

"Bratty"  Making 333 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 335 

A  Calcutta  Barber  Shop, 338 


317 


an  instan- 
To  face 


318 
319 
320 
321 
323 
328 
329 
330 

330 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


XVll 


383 


PAGE. 

A  HiXDU  Fakir, 339 

A  Long-Haiked  Fakir, 340 

The  Burning  Ghat, 343 

A  Tower  of  Silence, 345 

A  Hindu  Bride, 349 

A  Zenana  C.vrriage  of  Bombay, 351 

Ornamental  Tail  Piece, 352 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter,     ........  353 

A  Native  "Turnout," 356 

In  the  Monkey  Temple, 359 

Mosque  of  the  Great  Imambara,  Luckno\v, 365 

The  Taj  Mahal,  .        .         .         .  .  .368 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 370 

In  the  Suez  Canal, 374 

Donkey  Boy  of  Ismalia .         .         .  377 

On  the  Banks  of  the  Nile, 379 

A  Native  Egyptl^x   School.     (Suff  Cpagc.     From  an  instantane- 
ous photograph.)       ........      To  face 

An  Egyptian  school  is  a  curiosity.  The  pupils  sit  on  the  floor,  study  their 
lessons  aloud,  rocking  back  and  forth,  and  they  make  the  schoolroom  about  as 
noisj'  as  a  ward  political  meeting.  I  generally  knew  where  a  schoolroom  was  at 
least  half  a  minute  before  I  reached  its  doors.  The  master  squats  on  the  floor, 
or  stands  among  (his  pupils,  who  are  seated  in  rows  or  promiscnonsly  scattered 
through  the  rest  of  the  apartment. 

"Water  Carriers  Filling  their  Goat- Skins, 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter 

Before  a  Cairo  Coffee  House.     (§uff  Cpagc.     From  an  instanta- 
neous photograph.)  To  face 

The  strange  people,  the  curious  costumes,  the  unfamiliar  cries  in  the  street, 
the  characteristic  crowd  of  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  in  front  of  each 
coffee  house,  the  strange  manners  and  customs  of  the  bazaar,  all  furnished  ma 
terial  for  many  days  of  delight  in  the  capital  of  Egypt. 

Street  Musicians  axd  Dancers  of  Cairo, 
Praying  in  the  Streets  of  Cairo,  .... 

Latticed  Windows,  Cairo, 

Sugar-Cane  and  Fruit  Sellers  of  Cairo, 

Shoe  Peddler  of  Cairo, 

A  Bedouin  Family  on  a  Journey,   .... 

In  the  Bulak  Museum, 

Mummy  over  Three  Thousand  Years  Old,  of  Sethi  I,  Father 

of    RaMESES    II,  —  THE    PlIARAOH   WHO   OPPRESSED    THE    CHIL- 
DREN  OP   Israel.     (SufP  Cpcige.     From  a  special  photograph.) 

'  To  face 

Look  into  that  glass  case.  There,  in  that  royal  gilded  coffin,  lies  a  shrunken, 
withered  mummy.  The  lower  limbs  are  yet  wrapped  in  the  cerements  of  the 
grave,  but  the  naked  skull  is  still  perfect  and  visible.  The  long  hooked  Roman 
nose,  the  deep  sunken  eyeballs,  the  heavy  square  jaw,  tell  of  the  warrior  and  the 
tyrant.  There  is  Moses'  playfellow.  For  more  than  three  thousand  three  hun- 
dred years  he  lay  silent  in  the  earth,  until  at  last  the  mighty  secret  of  his  burial 
place  was  discovered,  his  coffin  was  opened,  and  he  was  found  to  tell  ns  the 
story  of  the  aw-ful  oppression  and  tyranny  which  he  inaugurated  so  many  centu- 


388 
390 

390 


393 
394 
395 
397 
399 
401 
404 


409 


XVlll  LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE. 

Full  Length  View  of  Mummy  op  King  Pharaoh,   Rameses  II, 

{the  Pharaoh  of  the  Oppression,) 4()i) 

Where   the   Mummy   op  Pharaoh  was  Found, — Entrance   to 

THE  Tomb, 411 

Propile  of  King  Pharaoh, 413 

Front   View  op   Pharaoh  imjiediately  after  Unwinding  the 

Mummy, 413 

Ornamental  Tail  Piece, '  .        .        .416 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 417 

The  Great  Pyramids, 419 

By  the  Roadside  in  Egypt, 422 

A  Scene  on  the  Nile, 426 

The  Flight  Down  the  Pyra.mid, 431 

The  Sphinx, 433 

Ornamental  Tail  Piece, 434 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 435 

Abdallah,  Our  Dragoman, 444 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 447 

Jerusalem  and  the  Surrounding  Country.    (Suff  Cbage.    From 

a  special  photograph.) To  face  448 

There  stands  the  city  proudly  on  its  hills  as  of  yore.  It  has  withstood  the 
decay  of  ceuturies,  the  tramp  of  conquering  armies,  and  the  destruction  that 
comes  in  the  wake  of  war  and  pestilence  and  conquest.  He  must  be  dull  indeed 
who  looks  on  .Jerusalem  for  the  first  time  unmoved,  as  he  remembers  all  that 
has  occurred  within  those  time-stained  walls. 

Begging  Dervishes,  Jerusalem, 455 

A  Water  Carrier, 458 

ORNAilENTAL   TaIL  PiECE, 468 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 469 

A  Street  in  Jerusalem, 470 

Absalom's  Tomb, 477 

A  Bedouin  Dinner  Party.     (Suff  CtJage.     Froin  an  instantaneous 

photograph.) To  face  4:80 

As  we  neared  the  village  we  passed  a  group  of  ragged,  filthy,  sore-eyed  speci- 
mens of  humanity,  squatting  on  the  ground  near  an  old  dilapidated  tent  where 
they  had  been  lazily  basking  in  the  sunshine.  They  were  engaged  in  the  inter- 
esting task  of  simultaneously  extending  their  dirty  hands  into  tlie  one  and  only 
disli  that  contained  their  food. 

A  Bedouin  Woman, 483 

Rachel's  Tomb 484 

A  Girl  of  Judea, 486 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 488 

The  Mosque  op  Omar 491 

Wailing  Place  of  the  Jews, 501 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 504 

The  Famous  Cedars  of  Lebanon,     (fuff  Cbage.    From  a  special 

photogi-aph) To  face  506 

The  grove  here  shown  is  supposed  to  have  furnished  the  timber  for  Solomon's 
Temple,  as  recorded  in  the  Old  Testament.  It  is  now  called  "  The  Grove  of  the 
Lord,"  and  in  it  are  three  hundred  and  ninety-three  trees  ;  of  these  only  twelve 
are  of  any  great  size,  and  they  have  received  the  name  of  "The  Twelve 
Apostles  "  from  a  tradition  that  Christ  once  visited  this  spot  with  his  Apostles, 
who  planted  their  staves,  which  grew  into  these  goodly  cedars. 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


XIX 


PAGE. 

Druse  from  Mount  Lebanon, 509 

Our  Turkish  Passport, 511 

A  Syrian  Woman  op  the  Lower  Class, 520 

A  Syrian  Woman  of  the  Better  Class, 521 

OvR  hiFE  Fresetrvek  (Facsimile  of  our  Bouyour-juldoii),     .        .        .  522 

Ornamental  Tail  Piece 524 

Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 525 

A  Ship  of  the  Desert 529 

Native  Khurds  of  Asia  Minor 531 

A  Syrian  Poultry  Seller, 534 

An  Exciting  Moment  —  Our  Ride  across  Turkey  in  a  Wagon. 

(Suff  gpage.) To  face  o3S 

Sometimes  the  rickety  wagon  would  sway  perilously  on  the  verge  of  a  rocky 
precipice.  Often  we  would  think  that  it  was  actually  going  over,  and  would 
catch  our  breath  as  we  expected  to  see  wagon,  horses,  and  driver  tumble  into  the 
terrible  abyss.  Then  the  driver  would  throw  himself  from  side  to  side  of  the 
wagon  to  keep  it  from  toppling  over,  and  the  rest  of  us  would  throw  our  weight 
on  that  side  to  prevent  the  threatened  catastrophe. 

Musselman  at  Prayer, 
The  Call  of  the  Muezzin, 
Ornamental  Initial  Letter,    . 

Mosque  of  El  Azar 

Sidewalk  Merchants,  Constantinople, 
St.  Sophia,  The  Marvelous,     . 
A  Whirling  DER\^SH, 
A  Turkish  Beauty,     .... 
A  Turkish  Woman,     .... 
A  Sultan's  Tomb,        .... 
Ornamental  Initial  Letter,    . 
Ornamental  Initial  Letter,     . 
Ornamental  Tail  Piece,    . 

Portrait  of  Mrs.  Harriet  E.  Clark  (fuff  ^age),       •      To  face 
Ornamental  Heading  to  Introduction, 
Ornamental  Initial  Letter  to  Introduction, 
Engraved  Autograph  of  Harriet  E.  Clark, 
Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 
Ornamental  Tail  Piece,    . 
Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 
A  Japanese  Mother,  . 
A  Japanese  Maiden,  . 

Carriage   Riding    in   Japan  — A  Jinrikisha  Man  in  His  Rain 
Cloak.      (Suff   Cpcige.      From    an    instantaneous    pJiotograph.) 

To  face 

Thus  thatched,  our  jinrikisha  man  looked  almost  like  an  animated  haystack. 
His  rain  cloak  covered  him  almost  from  head  to  heels.    In  the  crowded  streets 
he  was  continually  shouting  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  "  Hi-hi "  which  may  be 
translated  into  English,  I  suppose,  as  "  Look  out  there,"  "  Get  out  of  the  way,'" 
in  order  to  clear  a  passage  for  our  little  procession. 


543 
544 
545 
555 
556 
557 
559 
562 
565 
566 
568 
582 
590 
593 
593 
593 
593 
595 
602 
603 
605 
606 


606 


XX 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Japanese  Refreshments,    . 
Washing  Day  in  Japan,     . 
Street  Children  of  Japan, 
Ornamental  Tail  Piece,   . 
Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 
Colombo  Children, 
A  Happy  Mother, 
Pitiful  Little  Creatures, 
Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 
Ornamental  Tail  Piece,    . 
Ornamental  Initial  Letter, 
Good  Night, 


PAGE. 

611 
612 
613 
615 
616 
617 
618 
619 
625 
635 
636 
641 


^otd   'T^umkr  of  5H'u«tratio1u^,  220 


CHAPTER   I. 

OUR  START  —  LIFE  OX  AN  OCEAN  STEAMER. 

The  Journey  Begun  —  Daily  Life  on  an  Ocean  Steamer  —  Always  Journey- 
ing Homeward  —  Who  is  "We"  —  Taking  the  Reader  into  our  Con- 
fidence—  A  Parting  Look — "God  be  with  You  till  We  Meet  Again" 

—  The  ''Mariposa"  —  Our  Fellow  Passengers — Gambling  on  Ship- 
board—Betting on  the  Day's  Run  —  Where  to  read  "Penny  Dread- 
fuls"—  Lord  Blank  and  his  Guardian  —  One  Day  on  a  Pacific  Steamer 

—  A  Flexible  Bath-tub  —  Something  of  which  there  is  Enough  —  At 
the  Dinner  Table  —  Sighing  for  Home-made  Bread  and  Butter  — 
Wanted,  Milk  from  a  Cow  instead  of  from  a  Tin  Can  —  Mrs.  Bostonese 
Brains  —  The  Tramp,  tramp,  tramp  of  the  Passengers  —  Ring-Toss  and 
Shuffle-Board  —  Sunday  on  the  Ocean,    .....  ....      37 


CHAPTER  11. 

ACROSS  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN— SAMOA  AND  THE  SAMOANS— 
NEW  ZEALAND'S  RUGGED  SHORES. 


The  Joys  of  Terra  Firma — The  Playground  of  America  —  Bewildering 
Vegetation  —  Brown-skinned  Divers  —  Rum  and  Missionaries  —  Ten  to 
One  —  The  Future  of  the  Hawaiian  —  Our  Departure  —  "Fire,  Fire" 

—  Between  the  Flames  and  the  Sea — ^An  Exciting  Race  for  Life  — 
The  Navigators  Islands  —  The  First  Glimpse  —  The  Saraoans  as  Nature 
Made  Them  —  Stalwart  Oarsmen — On  Shore  Again — Costumes  not 
from  Paris  —  Babies  in  Brown  Coats  — The  Great  Event  of  the  Month 

—  A  Splendid  Race  —  The  Sabbath  Day  Holy  in  Samoa — A  Kingly 
Romance  —  A  Royal  Salary —  Tappa  and  Kava  —  An  Appetizing  Pro- 
cess—  Farewell  to  the  Oasis  —  An  Awful  Storm  —  A  Mournful  Spectre 

—  Our  Frolicsome  CJompanions  —  A  Week  without  a  Wednesday  —  An 
Exaggerated  English  Channel  —  New  Zealand's  Stern  and  Rugged 
Shores  —  Goodbye  Marip'/m, 50 

(xxi) 


XXil  CONTENTS. 

♦ 

CHAPTER  III. 

OUR  WELCOME  TO   A  NEW  CONTINENT  —  FIRST    IMPRES- 
SIONS  OF  AUSTRALIA. 

A  New  Continent  —  A  Magnificent  Harbor — Torres'  Mistake  —  The 
Flight  of  the  Dove — "The  Endeavor"  —  An  Important  Astronomi- 
cal Discovery  —  A  Vast  Noah's  Ark  —  Great  Grandfather  Animals  — 
The  Bushman  and  His  Fate  — What  the  Savage  could  not  do  —  Un- 
certain Rain  and  Certain  Drought  —  Australian  Oddities  —  Confused 
Trees  —  Topsy-Turvyness  —  Preconceived  Notions  —  The  Englishman 
the  World  Over  —  The  Evolution  of  the  Yankee  Drawl  —  Colonial 
Days  —  "  The  Great  American  Desert  "  —  Mother  and  Daughter  —  How 
the  Old  Lady  Treats  Her  Child  —  English  or  American  —  Architectural 
Differences  —  Big  Names  —  ' '  Elevator  "  or  "  Lift  "  —  "  Barber's  Shop  " 
"  Tonsorial  Palace"  —  American  Inventions  in  Australia  —  The  Home 
of  Anarchy  and  Unrest  —  Country  Life  versus  City  Life  —  The  "  Bluey" 
and  the  "  Billy  "  —  The  "  Larrikin  "  —  A  "New  Chum "  —  Modesty  Be- 
coming a  Literary  New  Chum, 68 

CHAPTER  lY, 

♦ 

AUSTRALIA  AND  AUSTRALIANS  —  INTERESTING  MATTERS 
ABOUT  A  GREAT  COUNTRY  — ITS  LIFE,  ITS  CUSTOMS, 
ITS   SCENERY,  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

The  Houses  the  People  Live  in  —  Stone  Instead  of  Wood  —  An  English- 
man's Castle  — Plenty  of  Soil—  "  Strathroy  "  versus  "  1229  E.  341  St." 

—  "Bacchus,  Cestus,  Festus"  — How  They  Travel  — The  Railways  — 
Inside  the  House  —  At  the  Dinner  Table  —  A  Pleasant  Custom  — 
Scarcity  of  Cold  Water  —  The  Newspapers  —  Sometimes  Dull  but 
Seldom  Sensational  —  Some  Budding  Poets  —  Specimen  of  Obituary 
Poetry  —  Outdoor  Life  —  National  Games  —  A  Mighty  Curse  —  The 
Turf  Adviser— The  Totalisator  —  Church  Life  — Great  Conventions  — 
The  Singing — Cable  Absurdities — A  Mexican  Invasion  —  Kissing  his 
Wife  on  the  Street  —  Gum-chewing  Girls  —  Chicago  Girls  and  Boston 
Maidens  —  Introducing  Friends 85 

CHAPTER   Y. 

AUSTRALIA  THROUGH  AMERICAN  EYES  — OUR  VISIT  TO  A 
GOLD  MINE  — RISKING   LIFE  FOR  A  FRIEND. 

An  Early  Definition  —  A  "  Personally  Conducted  "  Trip  —  A  Peaceful  Land 

—  One  of  its  Neighbors  —  Australia's  Only  Battle  —  The  Eureka  Stock- 
ade —  Unwarlike  Weapons— Hot,  Hotter,  Hottest  —  Summer  the  Pre- 


CONTENTS.  XXlll 

vailing  Season  —  Ragged  and  Tattered  Trees  —  A  Eucalyptus  Country 

—  Many  "Botany  Bays"  —  Imported  Pests  —  A  Pugnacious  Little 
Briton  —  One  of  Australia's  Expensive  Problems  —  The  Gentle,  Peace- 
loving  Bear  —  The  Kangaroo  and  the  Emu  —  The  Kangaroo's  Small 
Brother  —  The  Laughing  Jackass  —  A  Land  of  Cities  —  Tales  of  Politi- 
cal Corruption  —  An  Exploded  Boom  —  Melbourne  the  Magnificent  — 
Sydney  the  Picturesque  —  Adelaide  the  Lovely  —  Ballarat  the  Golden 

—  Down  in  a  Gold  Mine  —  Getting  Ready  to  Descend  —  In  Motley 
Array  —  The  Cage  — '■  Brave  Women  —  United  We  Drop  —  Suppose  !  — 
Everything  but  Gold  —  A  Brave  Miner  —  Risking  Life  for  a  Friend  — 
That  Man  was  a  Christian,       100 


CHAPTEE   yi. 

THE  CRUISE  OF  THE  CHmOTU—K^  INTERESTING  VOYAGE 
IN  STRANGE  COMPANY  —  IN  THE  GOLD  FIELDS  OF 
AUSTRALIA. 

Beginning  Our  Log-book  —  Mrs.  Pilgrim's  Resolve  —  The  Chingtu  —  A 
Unique  and  Unusual  Journey  —  Our  Steamer  —  Our  Stewards  — 
"Loast  Beef,"  "  Olange  Flittels"  and  "Lice  Cakes"  —  Preparing  for 
Hot  Weather  —  Our  Fellow  Passengers  —  Life  in  the  Steerage  —  Mr. 
Ah  See  and  his  Wives  —  Mrs.  Ah  See  Number  One  —  Photographing 
the  Family  — The  Ruler  of  the  Roost  — The  Black  Fellows  — Ce- 
lestials Returning  Home  —  Taking  Home  Their  Own  Bones  —  The 
Chinaman  at  Dinner  —  A  Race  of  Squatters  —  The  Fan-tan  "Layout" 
— Chinese  Passion  for  Gambling  —  Within  the  Barrier  Reef — "White 
Man,  He  too  Salt"  —  Glittering  Gold  Fields  —  How^  Gold  was  Discov- 
ered in  Australia —  Nash  and  His  "Find" — "  W^elcome  Strangers"  — 
Gold  on  Brogans  —  The  Romance  of  the  Morgan  Mine  —  A  Visit  from  a 
Native  Bushman — "  Backy,  Backy,  Backy  "  —  W^hite  Ant  Hills  — 
Wrecked  on  a  Coral  Reef  —  Thursday  Island, 115 


CHAPTER  YIL 

THROUGH   LITTLE  KNOWN  COUNTRIES  —  LIFE  IN  THE  MA- 
LAY ARCHIPELAGO  — A  BATTLE   WITH   A   SNAKE. 

All  the  Days  of  the  W^eek  —  A  Convenient  Nomenclature  —  A  Diet  of  Sea 
Worms  —  Trade  in  Bloodsuckers  —  Reminiscences  of  My  Boyhood  —  A 
Hideous  Delicacy  —  The  Pearl  Fishery  — Plums  in  the  Pudding  —  The 
Pearl  Diver's  Equipment  —  A  Short  but  not  a  Merry  Life  —  A  Baking 
Day  and  Steamy  Night  —  The  Aborigines  —  In  the  Celebes  Sea  —  The 
Connecticut  of  the  South  Sea  — The  Nutmeg  at  Home  —  The  Possibili- 
ties of  a  Ball  of  Twine  —  How  the  Bride  Wore  the  Trousers  —  Euro- 


XXIV  CONTENTS. 

pean  Clothes  and  Civilization  —  A  Snake  Story  —  An  Unwelcome 
Guest — Dislodging  his  Serpeutship  —  A  Battle  with  a  Python  —  The 
Spicy  Breezes  —  The  Noble  Work  of  the  Missionary  —  How  the  Chief 
Took  tlie  Census  —  At  His  Wit's  End  —  A  Shrewd  Rajah  —  Some 
Passengers  —  Some  Members  of  the  Feline  Tribe  —  The  Tale  of  Tor- 
toise-shell Tommy, 131 

CHAPTER  VIIL 

OUR  ARRIVAL  IN  CHINA  —  UNFAMILIAR  SIGHTS  AND 
NOVEL  EXPERIENCES  — CHINESE  EXECUTIONS— CHINESE 
FARMS  AND  FARMERS  —  DOMESTIC  LIFE. 

Cosmopolitan  Hong  Kong  —  The  Cabmen  of  the  Orient  —  A  Ride  in  a 
Sedan  Chair  —  Uplifted  in  Spirit  —  Sidewalk  Shops  —  Pennsylvania  Oil 
in  China  —  Fairyland  under  the  Lanterns  —  Incense  Offerings  to  the 
Gods  —  Novel  Sights  and  Scenes — Oriental  Sharpers  —  Unblushing 
Swindlers  —  Toboggan  Sliding  —  All  Aboard  for  Canton  —  Justice 
Swift  and  Severe  —  Executions  in  China  —  Heads  Chopped  off  with 
Neatness  and  Despatch  —  The  River  God  at  the  Prow  —  The  Fatsfum  — 
River  Robbers  and  Pirates  —  A  Floating  Arsenal  —  The  Rice  Harvest  — 
Threshing  Out  the  Rice  —  "  Chinaman  Makee  Glow"  —  Three  Crops  in 
a  Season  —  Water  Buffaloes  —  Christianity  and  Butter  —  Up  the  Pearl 
River  —  Junks  and  Flower  Boats,  Sampans  and  Slipper  Boats  —  The 
High  Road  of  Canton  —  A  Novel  Pontoon  Bridge  —  A  Family  Picture 
—  Cantonese  Jade  —  Off  in  a  Sampan, MS 

CHAPTER  IX. 

IN  CANTON  THE  CROWDED  —  CHINA  AND  THE  CHINESE. 
—  CURIOUS  SCENES  AMONG  A  CURIOUS  PEOPLE  — IN 
THE   TEMPLE   OF  HORRORS. 

Ah  Cum,  Jr. — A  Courteous  and  Faithful  Guide  —  Aimless  Wandering  — 
The  Birthday  of  the  Fire  God  —  Turning  out  for  a  Sedan  chair —  Close 
Quarters  —  A  City  of  Temples  —  Streets  with  Odd  Names — "Lon- 
gevity Lane  "  —  "  Heavenly  Peace  Street "  —  A  Changing  Panorama  — 
Outrageous  Odors  —  A  Pestilential  Place  without  Pestilence  7— A  Puz- 
zle for  our  Doctors  —  People  wiio  Never  Heard  of  a  Plumber  —  Tlie 
Live  Fish  Market  —  Candy  Stands  —  How  Much  can  you  Buy  for  a 
Cash  ?  —  Going  to  Market  in  Corea  —  A  Royal  Present  —  Juvenile 
Curiosity  —  That  Little  "Foreign  Devil"  — Tlie  Cat  and  Dog  Meat 
Store- The  Original  of  tlie  Willow  Pattern  —  The  Five  Himdrcd 
Buddhists  —  Marco  Polo  among  the  Gods  —  Lugubrious  Buddhist 
Priests  —  Worshiping  the  Gods  of  Good  Luck  and  Prosperity  — 
Business-like    Methods    of    Worship  —  The    Temple   of    Horrors  —  A 


CONTENTS.  XXV 

Necklace  of  Extracted  Teeth  —  Some  of  the  Tortures  —  Sawing  a 
Man  in  Two  —  Boiled  in  Oil  —  Punishments  of  the  Buddhist  Hell  — 
The  Examination  Hall  —  A  Pathetic  Spectacle 164 


CHAPTER  X. 

OUR  JOURNEY  UP  THE  GREAT  RIVER  — THE  DAILY  LIFE 
OF  A  CHINAMAN  IN  HIS  OWN  COUNTRY  — FAVORITE 
FOOD  AND  QUEER  DISHES. 

An  Excursion  in  a  Flower  Boat — "Rice  Power"  —  The  Stern-Wheeler 
aad  its  Motive  Power  —  Sacrifices  and  Perils  of  the  Missionary  —  A 
Chinese  Feast  —  Chop  Sticks  and  How  to  Use  Them  —  Lamb  and  Chest- 
nuts—  Frogs'  Legs  and  Onions  —  A  Dissipated  Prejudice  —  Shrimps 
and  Bamboo  Root  —  Our  Seventeen  Courses  —  A  Chinese  Village  —  A 
Village  School  and  Schoolmaster  —  Studying  Aloud  —  A  Pot  and  its 
Contents  —  How  the  Ashes  of  Grandfathers  are  saved  in  China  —  "Fe, 
Fi,  Fo,  Fum,  I  Smell  the  Blood  of  a  Chinaman"  —  Seventeen  Dollars 
for  a  Child  —  A  Fire-Cracker  Factory  —  How  Fire-Crackers  are  Made 
—  Cheap  Wages  and  Cheap  Living  —  A  Chinese  Flower  Garden  —  A 
Mandarin  in  His  Blossom  Gown  —  A  Chinese  Temple  —  Waking  up 
the  Gotl  —  Washstauds  for  a  God  —  Lack  of  Reverence  —  Fans  for  Sick 
Relatives  — The  Voices  of  the  Night  — A  Contrast 179 


CHAPTER  XI. 

OUR  STAY  IN  CHARMING  JAPAN  — SOCIAL  CUSTOMS  — SOME 
INTERESTING  PERSONAL  EXPERIENCES  —  LIFE  AND 
SCENES    ON    A    TEA    PLANTATION. 

The  Best  Preparation  for  a  New  Land  —  A  Terrible  Typhoon  —  Personal 
Experiences — "The  Lord  is  Able  to  Give  Thee  Much  More  Than 
This"  —  The  Most  Beautiful  of  Mountains — Fujiyama  in  Spotless 
Ermine  —  ' '  Fiery  Jack  "  —  Yokohama  —  The  Rush  of  Jinrikishas  — 
Tlie  Capture  of  the  Man-of- War's  Men  —  Fun  in  the  Custom  House  — 
"  Crossing  the  Palm"  —  A  Lesson  in  Japanese  Politeness  —  Bowing  in 
Japanese  —  The  Shop-keeper's  Salaam  —  The  Maid  Servant's  Obeisance 
Receiving  Callers  —  A  Hinge  in  the  Spine  —  The  Ohio  Statesman's 
Mistake  — "My  Fool  of  a  Wife  "  —  Japanese  Railways  — Our  Fellow 
Passengers  —  Progressive  Japan  —  Telegraph  Lines  and  Electric  Lights 
—  Postal  Delivery  Six  Times  a  Day  —  Protecting  the  Windows  —  The 
Professor's  Many  Suits  — The  "  Obi"  — A  Japanese  Joseph  — What  we 
Saw  from  the  Car  Window  —  A  Tea  Plantation  —  "  Father's  Pride  and 
Mother's  Joy  "  —  Thatch-Roofed  Farm  Houses 191 


XXVI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIL 

A   STROLL  AMONG    THE   MIKADO'S    SUBJECTS  —  EVERYDAY 
LIFE  IX  A  JAPANESE  HOUSE. 

Tokio,  its  Parks,  its  Temples,  and  its  Palace  — Its  University  — A  Study 
of  Fish  Parasites  —  What  Missionaries  have  done  —  The  Seismological 
Department  — An  Artificial  Earthquake  — Exceptional  Earthquake 
Privileges  —  Wheat  and  Chaff  — Canton  and  Tokio,  or  China  versus 
Japan  —  The  Frenchman  of  the  East  — A  Japanese  House  — No  Doors, 
No  Windows,  No  Chimneys  — A  Walk  in  a  Country  Village  — The 
Country  Bakery  — A  Rice  Mill  —  Division  of  Labor  — An  Initiation  into 
the  Art  of  Orange  Eating  —  The  Japanese  Shoe  Shop  —  The  Villainous 
Daikon  —  Prices  in  Japan  —  A  Pot  of  Tea  for  Two  Cents  —  A  Japanese 
Dinner  in  a  Japanese  Hotel  — The  Curious  Crowds  at  the  Window  — 
The  Motormen  of  the  East  — The  Hilarious  Jinrikisha  Men  — The 
Waitress  and  her  Odd  Position—  Paying  our  Reckoning,     .     .     .     206 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

OUR    EXPERIENCE    AT    A     CEREMONIAL     TEA— JAPANESE 
SOCIAL  LIFE  — IN  THE  EMPERORS  PALACE. 

A  Ceremonial  Tea — "Past  Masters  "  of  Politeness  —  The  Emperor's  De- 
vice —  A  Dignified  Function  —  A  Contest  .in  Politeness  —  White  and 
Black  Charcoal  —  With  Measured  Steps  and  Rhythmic  Motion  —  Build- 
ing the  Fire  —  The  Most  Solemn  Moment  —  Our  Part  in  the  Ceremony 

—  No  Laughing  Matter  —  Smacking  Our  Lips  —  From  Tokio  to  Kioto 

—  The  Garden  of  the  World  —  Industrious  and  Careful  Farmers  — 
Woman's  Rights  in  Japan  —  One  of  Japan's  Honored  Names  —  Mis- 
sionary Life  in  the  East  —  Flippant  "Globe-trotters" — Cheating  the 
Gods  —  Stone  Children  with  Red  Bibs  —  Conf  ucius's  Chilly  Cult  —  The 
Temple  of  the  Three  Thousand  Gods  —  Big  Gods  and  Little  Gods  — 
Rope  Made  of  Human  Hair  —  How  Heavy  Timbers  were  Lifted  into 
Place  —  Curious  Sacrifice  of  Religious  Devotees  —  In  the  Emperor's 
Palace  —  Osaka,  its  Mint,  its  Castle,  and  its  Fish-Market,      .     .     ,     230 

CHAPTER  XIY. 

OUR  RETURN  TO  CHINA— THE  SEAMY  SIDE  OF  CHINESE 
LIFE  — OPIUM  FIENDS  AND  FAN-TAN  GAMBLERS  — ODD 
WAYS  OF  AN  ODD  PEOPLE  —  CURIOUS  DISPOSAL  OF 
THE    DEAD. 

An  Obstructing  Bar  —  The  Will  of  Heaven  —  Almond  Eyes  and  Pigtails 

—  Noiseless  John — How  John  Chinaman  Treats  Americans  in  Shanghai 

—  Colossal  Conceit— The  Future  of  the  Celestial  Empire  — Shoes  Two 
Cents  a  Pair  —  A  Chinese  Grocery  Store  —  Dried  Kidneys  and  Chickens' 


CONTENTS.  XXVll 

Livers  —  Varnished  Pig  —  Allowable  Theft  —  A  Chinese  Rice  Mill  — 
Arrested  Development  —  How  Chinese  Paper  is  Made  —  Rice  Paper  — 
How  it  is  Produced  —  Woebegone,  Emaciated  Faces  —  The  Seamy  Side 
of  Chinese  Life —  "  Hitting  the  Pipe  "  —  Opium  Fiends — Fan-tan  Gam- 
blers —  Intense  Excitement  —  Chinese  Music  —  Unearthly  Screeching  — 
Prolonged  and  Awful  Caterwauling  —  In  the  Suburbs  —  Human  Beasts 
of  Burden  —  China  and  Japan  Agriculturally  Considered  —  Rotation  of 
Crops  —  Novel  Ice  Harvesting  —  Fish  Farming  —  An  Odd  Way  of  Fish- 
ing—The Old,  Old  Story  of  Mortality —  A  Great  Funeral  — Funeral 
Baked  Meats  —  Baby  Towers  of  Shanghai, 257 

CHAPTER  XV. 

A  JOURNEY  THROUGH  TROPIC  SEAS  — ARRIVAL  IN  INDIA- 
NATIVE  JUGGLERS,  ACROBATS,  AND  BEGGARS. 

A  Delightful  Voyage  —  Liquid  Fire  — The  Sacred  White  Ox  — The  Gharri 

—  The  "'L  Road"  and  the  Bullock  Bandy  —  Fan  Palms  of  Singapore  — 
A  Tree  that  Casts  no  Shadow  —  How  the  Bandy  Driver  Stimulates  his 
Steeds  —  An  Effective  Threat  —  Chewing  a  Bullock's  Tail  to  make 
him  go  —  Picturesque  Wharf  Venders — "Papa  Dive" — Scrambling  for 
Nickels  —  A  Walk  in  Penang  —  Mangosteens  and  Jack-fruit  —  Assa- 
foetida  and  Onions  —  The  Indian  Juggler  —  A  Man  with  a  Gizzard  — 
The  Mango  Tree  Trick  and  the  Girl  in  the  Basket  — The  Last  of  the 
Chinaman  —  Ceylon's  Spicy  Breezes  —  The  Waggish  Captain's  Joke  — 
The  Odors  of  Colombo  —  A  Horrible  Combination  —  The  Catamaran  — 
The  Two  Instincts  of  the  Singhalese — Persistent  Shopkeepers  —  Be- 
sieged by  Beggars  —  Baby  Merchants  and  their  Wares  —  The  Cinna- 
mon Gardens  —  An  Ancient  Turtle  —  Brawny  Barbarism  and  Miss 
Naucyism, 219 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

OUR  EXPERIENCES  IN  SOUTHERN  INDIA  — LIFE  IN  A  MIS- 
SIONARY BUNGALOW  — A  PICNIC  IN  THE  JUNGLE. 

A  Journey  with  a  Bad  Reputation  —  Landing  at  Tuticorin  —  Railway 
Traveling  in  India  —  A  New  Use  for  a  Dirty  Sock  —  Preparing  for  Hot 
Weather  —  House  Building  in  the  Tropics —  "  Give  the  Sun  no  Chance  " 

—  Horses  under  Pith  Hats  —  Barren  India  —  On  the  Ragged  Edge  of 
Famine  —  Gaunt  Starvation  —  Disputing  with  the  Ants  —  Buffaloes 
and  Long-legged  Goats  —  A  Sunset  Scene  —  A  Missionary  Bungalow  — 
A  Girls'  Boarding  School  —  How  They  Make  up  Their  Beds  —  An  In- 
ventory of  a  Maiden's  Jewels  —  A  Missionary's  Manifold  Labors — A 
Picnic  in  the  Jungle  —  The  "Nine  Lac  Garden"  —  Serious  Duties 
Again  —  A  Bicycle  Story  —  The  Good  Devil  and  his  Terrible  Bell  — 
"  Tell  Me  Your  Name,  Good  Devil  "  —  Bound  in  the  Shackles  of  the 
Caste  System  —  A  Brave  Brahmin, 294 


XXVIU  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XYII. 

SOME  FAMOUS  CITIES  OF  SOUTIIERX  INDIA  — INDIAN 
SNAKE  CHARMERS,  THIEVES  AND  ROBBERS  —  FAMOUS 
IDOLS,  TEMPLES  AND   PALACES. 

A  Fascinating  Land  —  Gorgeous  Heathenism  —  Tattoo  Marks  and  Sacred 
Ashes  —  A  Man  of  the  Thief  Caste  —  A  Robber  Village  —  Calling  the 
Roll  of  Thieves  —  The  Thief  Middleman  —  The  Women  at  the  Well  — 
The  Greasy  Fakir  —  Paying  Him  for  Drifting  to  Leeward  —  Blood- 
curdling Announcements  —  A  Magnificent  Temple  —  Twenty-five  Mill- 
ions of  Dollars  —  Dusty  Gods  and  Goddesses  —  The  Holy  of  Holies  —  A  . 
Stone  Bull  in  a  Stone  Bath  Tub  —  The  God's  Bath  —  A  Beautiful  Pal- 
ace—  The  Temple  of  Tanjore — Filthy  Water  as  a  Purifier  of  Sins  — 
The  Last  Rajah  and  His  Wives  —  A  Wedding  Procession  —  The  Kick- 
ing Capacities  of  an  Old  Smooth-Bore  —  Vellore  and  its  Temple  —  Sus- 
pense and  Terror  —  A  Brave  Rescue  —  The"  Gallant  Horses  —  Tippoo 
Sahib's  Relatives  —  The  Madras  Hunt  —  The  Punkah  Wallah,       .     311 

CHAPTER  XYIII. 

ON  THE  BANKS  OF  THE  SACRED  GANGES  —  HORRIBLE  CUS- 
TOMS—FUNERAL  RITES  AND   WEDDING   CEREMONIES. 

The  Mouth  of  the  Hoogly  —  A  Precaution  —  From  the  Parisian  to  the 
Pariah  —  The  Great  Banyan  of  the  Geographies  —  Ten  Thousand 
Troops  under  its  Shade  —  The  Burning  Ghat  —  A  Sidewalk  Barber's 
Shop  —  A  Ghastly  Group  —  Innumerable  Beggars  —  Religious  Parasites 

—  The  Old  Fakir's  Offering  —  The  Bathers  in  the  Ganges — A  Devoted 
Son  —  Dying  at  her  Leisure  —  A  Burning  Ghat  —  Decorations  after  the 
Bath  —  Burning  the  Dead  —  Hindu  Theology  —  Towers  of  Silence  — 
Dreary  Biers  and  Hungry  Vultures  —  A  Cannibal  Feast  —  The  Jews  of 
India  —  Why  They  Give  their  Bodies  to  the  Vultures  —  The  Bondage  of 
Caste  —  Paying  Dear  for  his  Dinners — A  Venerable  Bridegroom  — 
3Iatch  ^lakers  in  India  — The  Stars  Favorable  and  Marriages  Frequent 

—  A  Wedding  Procession  —  A  Pathetic  Mite  of  a  Bride — A  Matter-of- 
fact  Wooer, 335 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

IN  THE  COUNTRY  OF  THE  GREAT  MUTINY  — SOME  PAGES 
OF  BLOODY  HISTORY  — HEROES  AND  HEROINES  OF 
INDIA  — MEMORIES  OF  THE  PAST. 

Across  Northern  India  by  Rail  —  In  an  Indian  Sleeping  Car  —  Scenes  from 
our  Car  Window  —  Storks  and  Penguins.  3Ionkeys  and  Jackals  —  "It 
is  a  Beautiful  ]\Iorning  ;    Come,  Let  Us  Kill  Something"  —  Defiling  a 


CONTENTS.  XXIX 

Peddler's  Sweetmeats  —  A  Work  of  Patience  and  Diplomacy  —  An 
Every  Day  Conversation  in  India  — The  Mecca  of  the  Braliniiiis  — The 
Monkey  Temple  —  Cawnpore  of  Bloody  Memory  —  An  Awful  Page  of 
History  —  The  Augcl  of  Remembrance  —  Memories  of  Lucknow  — 
The  Gallant  Lawrence  —  Havelock's  Troops  to  the  Rescue  —  The 
Hero's  Grave  —  The  Cannon  Ball  that  Robbed  the  Mother  of  Her  Babe 

—  The  City  of  the  Taj  Mahal  —  The  Mogul's  Promise  and  How  He 
Kept  It— "In  Memory  of  an  Immortal  Love"  —  The  Hand  of  the 
Vandal— "Jane  Higgiubottom "  in  the  Taj— How  the  Old  King 
Played  Parchesi, 353 

CHAPTER   XX. 

OUR  VOYAGE  ACROSS  THE  INDIAN  OCEAN  AND  THROUGH 
THE   SUEZ  CANAL  — ARRIVAL  IN  EGYPT. 

Some  of  our  Fellow  Passengers  —  Missionaries  and  Men  of  Mars  —  The 
Little  Athletes— Potato  Races  and  Hurdle  Jumping  — The  Red  Sea  — 
A  Glimpse  of  Sinai  — "And  a  Half,  Eight"  — Waiting  our  Turn  — A 
Huge  Jack  o'  Lantern  —  A  Sight  Long  to  be  Remembered  — A  Stu- 
pendous Enterprise  —  A  Great  Waterway  —  Canal  Diggers  before  De 
Lesseps  —  In  the  Canal  —  Ismalia  and  her  Donkeys  — ' '  Yankee  Doodle  " 
and  "Washy  Washington" — Undeniable  Desert  — A  Woman  with  a 
Supplementary  Nose  —  Our  First  Glimpse  of  the  Bedouin  —  A  Family 
of  Arabs  —  The  Land  of  Goshen  —  Pharaoh  and  his  Prime  Minister  — 
Bricks  without  Straw  —  The  Fellahiu  and  How  They  Live  —  Their 
Superstitions— "O,  Virgin  Mary"— "The  Sun  Do  Move"— The 
Blessings  Brought  by  John  Bull  —  A  Ghostly  Reminder  —  How  They 
Carry  the  Babies — "Backsheesh,  Backsheesh"  —  "Oh  Sugar  for  a 
Nail"— "God   Will  Make   Them  Light,    Oh    Lemons"  — The    Little 

.       "Sons  of  the  River," , 370 

CHAPTEE  XXI. 

IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PHARAOHS  — THE  MOST  WONDER- 
FUL MUSEUM  IN  THE  WORLD  — THE  MUMMY  OF  PHA- 
RAOH THE  OPPRESSOR,  AND  HOW  THE  BODY  WAS  DIS- 
COVERED—LOOKING INTO  PHARAOH'S  FACE. 

Marvelous  Cairo  —  A  Vivacious  Traveler  —  Eyes  wanted  Before  and  Be- 
hind —  A  Labyrinth  of  Lanes  —  Fashion  in  a  Fez  —  Madam  Grundy  in 
Egypt  —  At  the  Sugar  Cane  Bazaar —  A  Glimpse  of  the  Khedive  —  A 
Boy  in  a  Fez  —  A.  Ride  to  Heliopolis  —  The  Flight  into  Egypt  —  The 
Tree  of  the  Virgin  —  How  the  Spider  Outwitted  Herod  —  Ancient  On  — 
The  Only  Relic  —  Joseph's  Father-in-Law  —  Where  Joseph  was  Married 

—  How  are  the  Mighty  Fallen  !  —  The  Most  Wonderful  Museum  in  the 
World  —  A  Room  Full  of  Mummies  —  Sethi  I  and  Rameses  II  —  Moses' 


XXX  CONTENTS. 

Playfellow  —  What  the  Bible  says  of  Him  —  A  Mummy  over  Three 
Thousaud  Years  Old  —  The  Pharaoh  of  the  Oppression  —  Where  He 
was  Buried  —  The  Location  a  Mighty  Secret  for  Centuries  —  How  the 
Tomb  was  Discovered  in  1881  —  Unwinding  the  Mummy  —  How 
Pharaoh  Looked  —  Description  of  the  Body  —  Its  Identity  Established 
—  Where  is  the  Pharaoh  of  the  Exodus  ? 390 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

ON  THE  BANKS  OF  THE  NILE— OUR  CLIMB  TO  THE  TOP 
OF  THE  GREAT  PYRAMIDS  —  BESET  BY  ARABS  — AMUS- 
ING ADVENTURES  AND  EXPERIENCES. 

An  Ancient  Proverb  —  Our  First  View  of  the  Pyramids  —  Man-made 
Mountains  —  Monuments  Which  Never  Disappoint  the  Traveler  — 
Could  They  be  Built  To-day  ?  —  A  Blow  at  the  Conceit  of  the  Nine- 
teenth Century  —  Comfort  for  the  Optimist  —  Why  the  Pyramids  were 
Built  and  How  —  The  Tombs  of  the  Pharaohs  —  A  Small  Pyramid  for  a 
Short  Reign  —  A  More  Intimate  Acquaintance  —  The  Road  to  Cheops- 
— ' '  Mafish  Backsheesh  "  — Unnecessary  Attention  —  The  Comanches  of 
the  Desert  —  An  Appeal  to  the  Sheik  —  Getting  Upstairs  —  How  the 
Stout  Lady  Reached  the  Top  —  Desolation,  Dearth,  and  Death  —  Life- 
giving  Father  Nile  —  Beautiful  Cairo  —  An  Ancient  Story  of  the  Pyra- 
mids—  Avaricious  Arabs  —  Destroying  the  Pyramids — Looking  Down 
on  Forty  Centuries — A  Ride  on  a  Camel  to  the  Sphinx — Boarding 
theShipof  the  Desert  — The  Ever-watchful  One, 417 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

ALL  ABOARD  FOR  JERUSALEM  — JOURNEYING  THROUGH 
THE  HOLY  LAND  BEHIND  A  LOCOMOTIVE— SCENES  AND 
INCIDENTS  BY  THE  WAY. 

A  Stormy  Day  in  March  —  A  Test  for  Brave  Hearts  and  Strong  Stom- 
achs—  Throwing  Up  Jonah — Going  Ashore  at  Jaffa  —  How  We  Got 
Down  the  Ship's  Side  —  Dumping  Passengers  in  the  Small  Boat  —  Up 
to  the  Ridge  Pole  and  Down  the  Side  of  the  Great  Tent  —  A  Terrible 
Accident  —  A  Highwayman's  Demand  —  "  Your  Money  or  Your  Life  " 
—  A  Near  Approach  —  Unspeakable  Filth  —  The  House  of  Simon  the 
Tanner — Simon's  Vat  —  View  from  the  Housetop  —  Our  Rural  Friend 
from  New  York  State  —  "Them  Jimkirridges  " — Through  the  Holy 
Land  Behind  a  Steam  Engine  —  The  Sentimental  Man  —  The  Reward  of 
Indulging  a  Sentiment  —  Our  Dragoman  —  How  Abdallah  Caught  the 
Doctors  Napping— When  the  Sun  and  the  Moon  Stood  Still  — The 
Dapper  Conductor  in  His  Red  Fez  —  The  Rose  of  Sharon,    .     .     .    435 


CONTENTS.  XXXi 

CHAPTEE  XXIV. 

"JERUSALEM,  JERUSALEM"— OUR  SOJOURN  IN  THE  LAND 
OF  SACRED  STORY -INTERESTING  SCENES  AND  TOUCH- 
ING MEMORIES. 

The  Brakemans  Announcement  —  Incongruous  Modernism  —  Entering 
Jerusalem  — Thronging  Emotions  —  "  The  Joy  of  the  Whole  Earth  "  — 
A  Walk  ^vithin  the  Walls  — The  Modern  City  — A  Pathetic  Story  — 
Plunging  into  the  Heart  of  the  City  —  The  Various  Shops —  Silverware 
from  Damascus  —  Shylock  in  Jerusalem  —  A  Suggestion  of  White-Caps 
—  The  Camel  and  His  Sneering  Underlip  —  Water-Carriers  and  their  Goat 
Skins  —  The  Dignitied  Syrian  —  The  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  — 
A  Checkered  History  —  The  Short  Triumph  of  the  Crusaders  —  The 
Stone  of  Unction  —  A  Touching  Bible  Story  —  Vulgar  Facts  —  Measur- 
ing the  Stone  for  Their  Winding  Sheet  —  Our  Lord's  Tomb  —  The  Great 
Unwashed  —  How  Adam  Came  to  Life  —  The  Cleft  in  the  Rock  —  An 
Impressive  Spectacle  —  A  Disgraceful  Easter  Scene  —  An  Awful  Acci- 
dent,        447 

CHAPTER  XXY. 

FOLLOWING  IN  THE  FOOTSTEPS  OF  OUR  LORD  — A  MEMOR- 
ABLE WALK  — LIFE  AND  SCENES  IN  THE  HOLY  CITY. 

The  Via  Dolorosa  —  Fourteen  Stations  on  the  Way  to  the  Cross  —  St.  Veron- 
ica and  Her  Handkerchief  —  Some  Touching  Inscriptions  —  Outside  the 
Gates  —  Our  Golgotha — "The  Green  Hill  Far  Away." — Gethsemane  — 
The  Stone  of  Treason  —  A  Wonderful  View  —  Our  Lord's  Broken- 
Hearted  Lament  —  The  Russian  Tower  —  The  Dead  Sea  —  A  Marvelous 
Mirror — Absalom's  Tomb  —  The  Fate  of  an  Unlilial  Reprobate  —  The 
cave  of  Adullam  —  Nebo  and  Its  Lonely  Grave — The  Village  of  Mary  and 
Martha  —  The  Greatest  Miracle  of  the  Ages  —  ' '  Dis  Way  to  de  Tomb 
of  Lazaroos"  —  The  Wretched  Inhabitants  of  Modern  Bethany  —  The 
Tomb  of  Rachel  —  Where  Our  Lord  was  Born  —  The  Marble  Cradle  — 
An  Impressive  Sight  —  Wrangling  Christians  —  Turkish  Guards  at  Our 
Lord's  Cradle — A  Sad  Suggestion, 46^ 


CHAPTER  XXYI. 

WITHIN  AND  AROUND  "  THE  DO^SYE  OF  THE  ROCK"— CURIOUS 
TRADITIONS  AND  PATHETIC   SCENES. 

The  Mosque  of  Omar  —  A  Rock  of  Wonderful  Traditions  —  Abraham's 
Sacrifice  —  Our  Retinue  —  Mohammed's  Broomstick  Ride  —  The  Wily 
Jew  and  the  Pilgrim  —  The  AVise  Judge  —  The  Marvelous  Iron  Chain 


XXXll  CONTENTS. 

of  Justice  —  A  Wil\'  Jew  —  Our  Slippers  and  How  We  Kept  Tlietn  Oa 
—  Our  "Humbug"  Sheik  — The  Great  Rock  — The  Stone  of  Nails  — 
How  the  Devil  Drew  Them  Out  —  An  Easy  Way  of  Buying  Heaven  — 
A  Rock  Which  Rests  on  Nothing  —  How  Gabriel  Held  It  Down  —  The 
Way  to  Paradise  —  What  the  Pilgrim  Found  in  the  Well  — Hairs  from 
the  Beard  of  Mohammed— The  Stables  of  Solomon  —  The  Place  of 
Final  Judgment  —  Startling  and  Curious  Traditions  —  The  Wailing 
Place  — Real  Grief  — A  Squalid  Scene  — The  Old  Pharisee  and  His 
Lovelocks  —  A  Sad  Litany — A  More  Joyful  Keynote  —  A  Marvelous 
Race, 488 


CHAPTER    XXYII. 

IN  THE  HOME  OF  SAINT  PAUL  — THE  FAMOUS  CEDARS  OF 
LEBANON  — OUR  EXPERIENCES  IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE 
SULTAN  — AT  THE  MERCY  OF  INHOSPITABLE  TURKS. 

Embarking  at  Jaffa  —  Americans  in  Syria  —  Their  Splendid  College  —  An 
Interesting  Room  —  The  Beginning  of  Our  Tribulations  —  A  Turkish 
Custom  House  —  Forbidden  Words  —  The  Sapient  Censor  —  A  School 
Boy's  Composition  and  What  Came  of  it  —  The  Use  of  Ironclads 
—  An  Ill-Starred  Rebellion —  "  No  Mean  City  "  — St.  Paul's  Well  — 
Drawing  Water  from  It  —  St.  Paul's  Tree  —  St.  Paul's  Institute  — 
Humble  Streets  —  A  Walk  to  the  Vali's  Palace — "Palace"  or 
"Sheds"?  —  In  the  Presence  of  His  Excellency — "The  Bouyou- 
rouldou  " — Official  Handwriting  —  A  Sunday  in  Adana  —  A  Living 
Screen  —  A  Congregation  of  Fezzes  —  Squatting  on  the  Floor  —  How  to 
Pack  a  Congregation  —  Turks  and  Armenians — "Is  America  on  a 
Hill  ?  "  —  Preparing  for  our  Oyerland  Journey, 504 


CHAPTER  XXYIII. 

A  REMARKABLE  JOURNEY  ACROSS  ASIA  MINOR  IN  A  SPRING 
WAGON  —  THRILLING  EXPERIENCES  BY  THE  WAY— A 
DANGEROUS  RIDE. 

An  Imposing  Cavalcade  —  Foolish  "Franks" — An  Arsenal  of  Archaic 
Weapons  —  Ali,  the  Turk  —  Anastas,  the  Errand  Boy — "Meat"  — 
Entrancing  Scenery  —  Snow-capped  Lebanon  —  The  Road  of  Paul  and 
Cicero  —  Eloquent  Ruins  —  Our  Fellow  Travelers  —  Caravans  of  Cam- 
els—  The  Patient  Donkey  —  Pleasant  Salutations — "  Bereket  Versin  " — 
"May  the  Almighty  Cling  to  your  Hand"  —  The  Motto  of  the  Spoons 

—  The  Story  of  the  Dervish  — The  Holy  Ass  — A  Chip  of  the  Old  Block 

—  Keeping  Off  the  "  Evil  Eye"  — "You  Dirty  Brat"  — A  Fond  Moth- 
er's Salutation  —  The  Mother-in-Law  in  Turkey  —  A  Typical  Turkish 


CONTENTS.  XXXUl 

Khau  —  Sharing  a  Bed  witli  the  Camels  —  Through  the  Cilician  Gates 
—  The  "Bad  Five  Miles"  —  How  "We  Held  the  Wagon  Crossing  the 
Taurus  Mountains  —  In  the  Guest  Room  of  Selim, 525 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

ON  TO  THE  GOLDEN  HORN  — CONTINUATION  OF  OUR  JOUR- 
NEY IN  A  WAGON  — WHIRLING  AND  HOWLING  DER- 
VISHES—VEILED   WOMEN  OF   TURKEY. 

Watched  by  a  Curious  Crowd  —  A  Broken-Hearted  Wife  — The  Lamp- 
Dealer's  Suspicious  Balls— A  Genuine  Turkish  Bath  — The  Feast  of 
Ramidan  —  Waking  Up  to  Eat  —  The  Difference  Between  a  Black 
Thread  and  a  White  —  Cross  Officials  —  A  Picked  and  Singed  Turkey 

—  Carving  Up  Turkey  —  Angora  Cats  and  Angora  Goats  — Tying  Up 
a  Railway  Train  —  Drawing  Near  to  Constantinople  —  A  Famous 
College  —  St.  Sophia,  the  Marvelous — In  the  Hands  of  the  Vandals 

—  The  Covered  Face  — The  Bloody  Hand  of  the  Conqueror  — The 
"Sweating  Column  "  —  The  Whirling  Dervishes  —  How  They  Whirl  — 
Treading  on  the  Babies  —  A  Strange  Ceremony  —  How  the  Sultan  Goes 
to  Mosque— Sanding  the  Road— A  Mean-Faced  Monarch— The  Sultan's 
Wives  and  Daughters  — A  Timid  Tyrant  — Rich  Stores  of  Costly 
Jewels  — Beautiful  Broussa  — Tomb  of  Othman  the  Great,     .     .     545 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

THROUGH  CLASSIC  LANDS— FROM  CONSTANTINOPLE  TO 
THE  COAST  OF  SPAIN  — UNDER  BLUE  ITALIAN  SKIES  — 
ALONG  OLD  PATHS —  HOMEWARD  BOUND. 

Off  for  Athens— On  the  TchickatcJioff  —  The  Occident  and  the  Orient  — 
The  Sharp  Line  of  Demarcation  —  Tenedos  and  Its  AVoodcn  Horse  — 
What  Makes  Athens  Great  To-day?  — A  Charming  Journey— The 
Ruined  City  and  its  Thrilling  Story  — The  Romantic  Way  of  Climbing 
Vesuvius  —  The  Lake  of  Fire  and  Brimstone — An  Awful  Accident 
—  Where  the  Christians  Fought  with  Wild  Beasts  —  Pisa  and  its  Bell 
Tower  —  The  Campo  Santo  and  its  Sacred  Soil  —  Lazy  Venice  and  its 
Gondolas—  Genoa  the  Superb  —  All  that  We  Found  of  Columbus  —  On 
the  Borders  of  Spain  —  A  Royal  Swimmer  —  Ambitious  Spanish  Girls  — 
Too  Envious  to  be  Courteous  —  A  Memory  of  Lafayette  —  Washer- 
women Object  to  Modern  Conveniences 568 


XXXI V 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEK  XXXI. 

OBJECTS  AND  RESULTS  OF  OUR  JOURNEY  — THE  FAVORING 
HAND  OF  PROVIDENCE  — LOOKING  BACKWARD —  HAPPY 
MEMORIES. 

The  Great  Object  of  our  Journey  —  Australian  Conventions  —  Unbounded 
Enthusiasm  —  The  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  Pennant  —  Happy  Memories  —  In 
Marvelous  Japan  —  A  "  United  Society  "  for  China  —  Among  the  Hin- 
dus—  Obstacles  in  Turkey  —  Forbidden  Words  —  Arresting  St.  Paul 

—  Black-Eyed  Spanish  Endeavorers  —  Encouragement  in  Paris —  Good 
News  from  the  Mother  Land  —  Steady  Growth  of  Endeavor  Societies  — 
Impressions  of  Missionaries  and  Their  Work —  Cruel  Misrepresentations 

—  Globe  Trotters'  Slanders  —  A  Diversity  of  Gifts  —  What  are  the 
Hardships  of  a  Missionary  to-day?  —  The  Most  Hopeful  Feature  of  Mod- 
ern Civilization  —  The  Anglo-Saxon  Missionary  and  His  Noble  Work  — 
Saving  the  World  through  Jesus  Christ, 583 


Bs  Seen  Q;brougb  a  liCloman's  Eyee 


BY 


dtoOAnAJf  &.  ^/ta/m^ 


CHAPTER  I. 

A  WOMAN'S  LIFE  AT  SEA  — HOUSEKEEPING  IN  A  FLOATING 
PRISON  — LIFE  UNDER  THE   SOUTHERN  CROSS. 

At  Sea  —  Housekeeping  on  a  Small  Scale  —  Daily  Life  in  a  Floating 
Prison  —  A  Consoling  Stewardess  — Tea  and  Toast  in  a  Stateroom  — 
A  Bed  that  Never  Kept  Still  —  Lucid  Intervals  — Moving  into  a  New 
Home  —  Arranging  our  Belongings  —  Going  to  Housekeeping  Eighteen 
Times  in  One  Year  —  The  Back  Yard  of  an  Ocean  Steamer  —  Sighing  for 
a  Pine  Stump  —  A  Chinese  Steward,  A  Malay  Quartermaster,  and  an 
English  Captain  —  Life  on  the  Chingtu  —  Under  the  Southern  Cross  — 
A  Velvet-footed  Steward  —  Doleful  vermis  Pleasant  Memories,   .     .     592 


CONTEXTS.  XXXV 

CHAPTER   II. 

A:\I0NG  the  women  and  children  of  japan  — a  JAPAN- 
ESE PRAYER  MEETING  — NATIVE  POLITENESS  AND  ETI- 
QUETTE—MY EXPERIENCE  WITH  CHOPSTICKS. 

Compensations  —  The  Brown  Babies  of  India  —  The  Yellow  Babies  of 
Japan—  Queensland  Lucy  —  A  Forlorn  Little  Black  Girl  —  The  Hottest 
Place  on  Earth  —  Home  Life  in  Japan  —  Going  to  Prayer  Meeting  in  a 
Jiurikisha  —  A  Shuffling,  Awkward  Gait  —  Where  We  Left  Our  Shoes 

—  Japanese  Etiquette  —  A  Cordial   Welcome  — Bowing   to  the  Floor 

—  '•  Rock  of  Ages  "  in  Japanese  —An  Interesting  Meeting  —  Struggling 
with  a  Foreign  Language  —  "  Sayonara  "  to  our  Friends  —  Japanese 
Refreshments  —  Eating  Bean  Soup  with  Chopsticks  —  A  Difficult 
■Operation  —  Drinking  Soup  from  a  Bowl  —  Delusive  Beans  —  New  Use 
for  a  Sleeve  — A  Japanese  Pillow  — The  Professor  of  Flowers.— 
Artistic  Bouquets, 603 

CHAPTER  HI. 

AMONG  THE  WOMEN  AND  CHILDREN  OF  INDIA  — NATIVE 
DRESS  AND  ORNAMENTS  — LIFE  INSIDE  A  RICH  HEATH- 
EN HOME  — HEATHEN  DOLLS,  BRIDES,  AND   WIDOWS. 

Children  in  Ceylon  —  Persistent  Little  Beggars  —  Curly-Headed  Karo  — 
"My  so  Poor"  —  Pretty  Brown  Babies  —  Little  Hands  Stretched  out 
for  Alms  —  Ceylon  Dandies  —  Picturesque  Waiters  —  A  Race  of  Beg- 
gars—  Tipping  an  Army  of  Attendants — Starting  on  a  Journey  at 
Three  o'clock  in  the  ^Morning  —  A  Wagon  Ride  of  Seven  Miles  in  the 
Moonlight— Through  the  Streets  of  Vellore  — Arrival  at  a  Mission 
Bungalow  — A  Native  Girl's  Boarding  School  — A  Bridal  Trousseau  in 
Red  and  Yellow  —  Life  Inside  a  Heathen  Home  —  Our  Reception  by  the 
^'Bo"  —  A  Peep  into  the  "Baboo's"  Apartments  —  A  Display  of 
Jewelry  —  An  American  Doll  in  India  —  A  Heathen  Doll  —  Mrs.  Grundy 
in  a  Zenana  —  Ten-Year-Old  Brides  —  Child  Widows, 616 


CHAPTER  TV. 

A  WOMAN'S  JOURNEY  ACROSS  TURKEY  IN  A  WAGON  — A 
[MEMORABLE  NIGHT  IN  A  TURKISH  KHAN  — TURKISH 
VILLAGE  LIFE  — INTERESTING  PERSONAL  EXPERIENCES. 

Learning  by  Experience  —  My  Traveling  Companions — "Coming  out 
Strong  "  —  Mark  Tapley's  Opinion  of  the  Sea  —  Our  First  Experiences  in 
a  Turkish  Custom  House  —  Searching  for  Concealed  Books  and  Papers 


XXXVl 


CONTENTS. 


—  A  Novel  Cavalcade  —  In  a  Turkish  Khau  —  A  Memorable  Night  — 
Rooming  with  Donkeys,  Camels,  and  Horses  —  Our  Wash  Basin  — 
Over  the  Taurus  Mountains — An  American  Spring  Wagon  in  Asia 
Minor  —  A  Dismal  Prospect  —  Filth  and  Dirt  Everywhere  —  Sickening 
Sights  in  Village  Streets  —  Hobson's  Choice  —  In  a  Native  House  — 
Putting  an  Armenian  Baby  to  Bed  —  A  Cheerful  Infant  —  A  Peep  into 
Paradise  —  Dirty  Turks  —  Eating  out  of  the  Same  Dish  with  Them  — 
A  Plague  of  Fleas  —  Some  Pointed  Questions, 625 


CHAPTER  V. 

GOOD-BYE. 
GOD  BE  WITH  YOU   TILL   WE  MEET  AGAIN." 


The  Departure  from  San  Francisco  —  The  Crowded  Wharf  —  "  All  Ashore 
that's  Going  Ashore  " —  The  Song  of  Farewell  —  The  Captain's  Encour- 
agement —  Good  Cheer  for  All  —  A  Never-to-be-forgotten  Song  —  In 
Moreton  Bay  —  On  Board  the  Chingtu  —  Our  Friends  on  the  Launch  — 
Chattering  Chinese  —  A  Voice  from  the  Tarshaw  —  An  Unappreciative 
Listener  —  Another  Precious  Memory  —  At  a  Railway  Station  in  Oka- 
yama  —  Japanese  Courtesy  —  The  Train  Waits  for  the  Song  —  In  a 
Chinese  Schoolroom  —  The  Lively  Little  Junior  —  The  Dear  Old  Hymn 
in  Chinese  —  In  a  Little  Hill  Town  of  India  —  Departure  in  the  Early 
Morning  —  Surrounded  by  Ghosts  —  ' '  God  Be  With  You  "  in  Hindu 
Dialect  —  A  Brown-faced  Boy  Choir  —  Sweet,  Lingering  Echoes  —  A 
Blessed  Memory  of  Friends  in  Distant  Lands, 636 


CHAPTER  I. 

OUR  START  —  LIFE  ON  AN  OCEAN  STEAMER. 

The  Journey  Begun  —  Daily  Life  on  an  Ocean  Steamer  —  Always  Journey- 
ing Homeward  —  Who  is  "  We  "  — Taking  the  Reader  into  our  Con- 
fidence—  A  Parting  Look — "God  be  with  You  till  We  Meet  Again" 

—  The  "  Mai-iposa"  — Our  Fellow  Passengers  — Gambling  on  Ship- 
board—  Betting  on  the  Day's  Run  — Where  to  read  "Penny  Dread- 
fuls "  —  Lord  Blank  and  his  Guardian  —  One  Day  on  a  Pacific  Steamer 

—  A  Flexible  Bath-tub  —  Something  of  which  there  is  Enough  — At; 
the  Dinner  Table  —  Sighing  for  Home-made  Bread  and  Butter  — 
Wanted,  Milk  from  a  Cow  instead  of  from  a  Tin  Can  — Mrs.  Bostonese 
Brains  — The  Tramp,  tramp,  tramp  of  the  Passengers  — Ring-Toss  and 
Shuttle-Board  —  Sunday  on  the  Ocean. 


HE  traveler  on  his  Avay  around 
the  Avorld  is  always  journeying 
homeward.      Every    revolution 
of  the  car  wheels,  every  vibra- 
tion of  the  steamer's  propeller 
brings  him  nearer  to  the  point 
of  his  departure.     He  has  no 
weary  miles  of  sea  or  land  to 
retrace.      When   deserts   daunt 
his  spirits,  and  dreary  wastes  of 
interminable,    tumbling   waves 
oppress  the  very  imagination, 
as  they  are  sure  to  do  before  his  journey  ends,  he  can  say 
to  himself:  '*!  shall  not  go  this  way  again.     I  have  but 
to  keep  on  and  the  desired  home  haven  will  be  reached." 
I  assure  my  readers  that  before  the  wide  open  doors  of 
3  (37) 


38  ''PERSONALLY    CONDUCTED." 

the  Golden  Gate  had  been  left  many  days  in  the  distance, 
we  had  reason  to  summon  all  our  ])hilosophy  and  to  extract 
all  the  sunshine  which  we  could  obtain  from  such  sentimen- 
tal cucumbers  ;  for,  to  make  the  best  of  it,  there  are,  on  such 
a  journey  as  this  book  relates,  monotonous  days  and  home- 
sick (not  to  say  seasick)  hours,  and  discomforts  in  abun- 
dance, to  offset  the  new  experiences,  novel  sensations,  and 
charming  memory  pictures  Avhich  such  a  journey  also  affords. 
But  it  shall  be  my  object  on  this  "  personally  conducted " 
trip  which  I  invite  my  readers  to  take  with  me,  to  elimi- 
nate from  their  journey  just  as  many  of  these  disagreeable 
and  monotonous  features  as  possible,  and  to  give  them  the 
pleasures  of  travel  without  its  discomforts ;  as  many  roses 
and  as  few  thorns  as  may  be  in  my  power  to  pluck. 

The  preface  tells  the  reader  of  the  chief  object  of  this 
journey  ;  and  the  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  take  my  friends 
with  me  over  sea  and  land  and  show  them  the  objects  and 
the  people,  the  customs  and  the  manners,  the  homes,  streets, 
and  native  life  that  most  interested  me.  How  often  have 
I  wished  that  these  friends  were  with  me  as  I  have  silently 
called  the  roll  of  their  names  —  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  them ;  that  some  fabulousl}^  rich  Count  of  Monte  Cristo 
might  put  a  steamer  or  a  whole  fleet  of  steamers  at  our 
disposal  so  that  we  could  make  the  journey  together.  But 
since  that  could  not  be,  we  will  go  together  in  the  pages  of 
this  volume  if  they  will  kindly  follow  me. 

We  started  —  but  where  shall  I  say  Ave  started  ?  From 
Boston,  where  our  trunks  were  first  checked,  or  from  Jersey 
City,  where  hundreds  of  generous  friends  from  New  Jersey 
and  New  York  and  Brooklyn  gaA^e  us  occasion  to  remember 
the  parting  scene  as  long  as  we  live ;  or  from  Chicago, 
where  equally  Avarm  Avelcomes  and  Avarm  farcAvells  Avere 
extended ;   or  from  Denver,  or   Salt  Lake  City,  or  Santa 

BBC 


WHO   IS    "WE."  39 

Cruz,  or  San  Jose,  or  Oakland,  or  San  Francisco?  If  one 
starts  from  the  place  where  he  leaves  dear  friends  and 
l-eceives  kind  and  affectionate  adieus,  then  we  started  from 
all  these  places,  and  many  others  which  it  is  impossible  to 
mention. 

However,  since  the  trip  across  the  American  Continent 
is  a  matter  of  daily  occurrence  to  hundreds  of  travelers,  and 
since  I  need  not  weary  you  with  such  a  twice-told  tale,  we 
will  start,  dear  reader,  as,  in  fact,  "  we  "  actually  started  from 
the  Golden  Gate  on  Friday  —  by  no  means  an  unlucky  day, 
let  us  hope. 

The  "  we ' '  is  not  altogether  an  editorial  we,  but  refers, 
when  particular  designation  may  be  necessary,  to  the  three 
individuals  whom  we  will  call  the  Pilgrim  and  Mrs.  Pilgrim 
and  the  Young  Pilgrim,  Avhose  personality  is  explained  a 
little  more  fully  in  the  preface. 

This  book  is  not  to  be  a  journal  of  Avhat  these  pilgrims 
did  and  said  and  how  they  felt  and  what  kind  of  weather 
they  experienced,  and  how  many  tunes  they  paid  tribute  to 
Neptune,  and  so  forth.  Such  diaries  are  apt  to  become 
egotistical  and  wearisome;  but  this  shall  be  made  up  of 
experiences  and  pictures  which  we  would  have  live  in  your 
memories  and  ours. 

It  matters  comparatively  little  whether  the  Pilgrim  had 
a  fit  of  indigestion  on  the  20th  of  September,  or  whether 
Mrs.  Pilgrim  had  an  attack  of  the  blues  (as  though  such  a 
thing  were  possible)  on  the  25th  of  November,  or  whether 
the  young  Pilgrim  caught  the  measles  from  a  too  close 
inspection  of  the  steerage ;  such  facts  may  have  appropriate 
place  in  a  private  diary,  but  only  old  Samuel  Pepys  could 
make  them  interesting  to  other  people. 

But  we  shall  take  you  all  into  our  confidence  in  regard 
to  matters  of  common  interest.     We  will,  in  other  words, 


■iO  FAREWELL  TO   THE   GOLDEN  WEST. 

look  for  you  through  the  most  powerful  field-glasses  we  can 
command,  at  everything  high  and  low,  commonplace  and 
extraordinary,  which  we  tliink  would  interest  you.  We  will 
not  merely  gaze  at  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  the  lofty  moun- 
tain peaks,  and  sublime  characters  which  come  within  our 
range.  "We  will  look  for  you  at  the  common  people  and 
their  common  ways ;  at  the  little  street  gamin  as  well  as  the 
lords  and  ladies  of  high  degree  ;  at  the  trivial  things  which 
many  travelers  think  beneath  their  notice ;  and  especially 
at  the  unusual  and  the  uncommon  Avhich  it  is  necessary  to 
travel  ten  thousand  leagues  of  sea  and  land  to  view. 

Now  that  we  understand  each  other  so  fully,  dear  read- 
ers, let  us  take  a  parting  look  at  "  the  land  of  the  free  and 
the  home  of  the  brave,"  which  we  shall  not  see  again  for 
nearly  a  twelvemonth. 

The  steamship  Mariposa  is  moving  away  from  her 
San  Francisco  pier.  The  fluttering  white  handkerchiefs  of 
the  crowd  of  Californian  Endeavorers  on  the  dock,  whose 
welcome  has  partaken  of  all  the  unbounded  hospitality  of 
the  Golden  West,  are  growing  dimmer  every  moment,  their 
"  God  be  with  you  till  we  meet  again  "  sounds  fainter  and 
fainter,  until  at  last  they  are  lost  to  eye  and  ear,  and  with  a 
lump  in  our  throats  at  the  thought  of  the  land  and  friends 
we  are  leaving  behind  us,  we  turn  to  look  at  the  good  ship 
which  for  nearly  a  month  is  to  be  our  home,  and  at  the 
passengers  who  are  to  be  our  neighbors. 

Not  a  matter  of  small  moment  is  this  of  home  and  neigh- 
bors on  such  a  voyage  as  that  from  San  Francisco  to  Syd- 
ney. On  a  little  run  of  five  or  six  days  on  an  ocean  grey- 
hound across  the  Atlantic,  it  matters  little,  comparatively, 
what  are  one's  surroundings.  One  can  misanthropically 
take  to  his  berth  or  shut  himself  up  in  his  stateroom  for 
such  a  journey  ;    but  when  it  comes  to  the  magnificent  dis- 


GAMBLING    ON   SHIPBOAKD.  41 

« 

tances  of  the  Pacific  it  is  quite  a  different  thing,  and  one 
feels  ahnost  as  much  interest  in  his  surroundings  as  a  minis- 
ter in  his  new  parish  or  a  freshman  in  his  new  classmates. 

All  modern  ocean  steamers  for  passenger  travel  have 
many  things  in  common  ;  they  are  all  long  and  narrow,  with 
staterooms  and  dining  saloon  below,  and  a  promenade  deck 
or  social  hall  above.  The  Pacific  liners,  especially  those  for 
the  Australian  ports,  are  built  more  for  hot  weather  than 
the  Atlantic  fleet,  with  the  most  desirable  staterooms  on 
the  upper  deck,  and  with  awnings  to  keep  off  the  sun  which 
on  the  North  Atlantic  is  always  more  agreeable  than  other- 
wise. 

But  let  us  look  at  our  fellow  passengers.  As  all  Gaul 
was  divided  into  three  parts,  so  all  the  passengers  on  an 
ocean  steamer  may  be  divided  into  two  parts ;  the  gamblers 
and  the  non-gamblers.  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  on  our  steamer 
the  former  outnumber  the  latter.  ISTot  that  they  are  pro- 
fessional gamblers  for  the  most  part ;  they  would  be  shocked 
at  any  such  remote  suggestion,  but  they  help  make  up  "  the 
])ool,"  take  a  chance  in  the  "  Calcutta  Sweep,"  and  eagerly 
scan  the  record  of  the  ship's  run  each  day  to  see  whether 
they  have  lost  or  won. 

The  moral  sense,  on  the  matter  of  gambling  at  least, 
seems  to  be  blunted  on  shipboard  ;  the  sea  air  has  a  demoral- 

izino-  effect  on  the  finer  sensibilities.     There  is  Lord , 

for  instance,  who  looks  like  a  green  country  youth  from  the 
backwoods  of  America,  only  that  his  clothes  do  not  fit  so 
well  as  the  average  cowboy's  fit  him.  One  would  think,  to 
look  at  his  innocent  face,  that  no  guile  lurked  behind  it,  but 
he  spends  day  after  day  in  the  reeking  atmosphere  of  the 
smoking  room,  with  his  pile  of  money  and  "  chips  "  before 
him,  as  eager  over  the  cards  as  though  his  life  depended  on 
them.     There,  too,  is  Sir ,  a  great  man  in  his  own 


42  REVELATIONS  OF  CHARACTER. 

land,  I  understand,  who,  doubtless,  poses  every  year  at  elec- 
tion time  as  a  model  of  all  the  virtues,  and  an  exam})le  to 
all  the  youth.  He  can  find  nothing  better  to  do  than  to  bet 
on  every  day's  run,  and  to  abet  the  young  lord  whose  tem- 
porary guardian  he  is,  and  before  whom  he  should  set  a 
good  example,  in  all  his  gambling  operations.     There,  too, 

is  Mrs. ,   who  doubtless,   considers  herself  a  perfect 

lady.  Alas,  I  believe  the  register  says  she  is  from  Boston  ! 
She  is  eagerness  itself  to  know  whether  her  little  venture  in 
the  Calcutta  Sweep  is  like  to  yield  her  any  dividends. 

But  there  are  some,  I  am  glad  to  say,  who  have  as  much 
principle  on  sea  as  on  land ;  who  are  not  tempted  to  lay 
aside  their  ordinary  morals  because  of  the  comparative 
seclusion  of  an  ocean  steamer. 

The  fact  is,  a  voyage  of  this  sort  brings  out  and  accent- 
uates the  traits  ^vhich  on  shore  are  covered  up  by  the 
conventionalities  of  life.  An  ocean  trip  is  a  kind  of  a 
judgment  day  in  its  revelation  of  character.  In  this  little 
company  of  a  few  score  of  people  is  a  little  world  with  all 
the  hopes,  fears,  joys,  and  ambitions  of  the  larger  world 
from  which  we  have  come.  The  gambler  at  heart,  who  on 
shore  has  not  a  chance  because  of  public  opinion  to  risk  a 
nickel  or  turn  up  a  card,  is  here  a  gambler  in  reality;  the 
tippler,  who  at  home  seldom  takes  a  drink,  here  without  any 
reproach  can  have  his  bottle  at  every  meal  as  well  as  be- 
tween meals ;  the  impatient  mother  (we  almost  always  find 
one  such)  here  has  little  to  do  save  to  scold  her  unfortunate 
babies ;  the  devoted  lover  can  hold  his  sweetheart's  hand  all 
day  long;  the  flashy  novel  reader,  with  no  bread  and  butter 
to  earn,  can  peruse  his  "  penny  dreadfuls  "  from  morning  to 
night. 

The  real  lady  and  gentleman,  I  am  glad  to  say,  are  also 
on  board,  and  their  kindness  and  unassuming  unselfishness 


IN   THE   EARLY   MORNING.  43 

are  also  accentuated  as  tliey  show  us  how,  amid  the  trying 
circumstances  of  life  on  shipboard,  true  courtesy  can  exist. 

Perhaps  3^ou  would  like  to  know  how  we  pass  the  day. 
Sed  uno  disce  omnes  (from  one  learn  all)  is  a  Roman  proverb 
which  applies  particularly  to  life  on  a  Pacific  Ocean  steamer, 
where  the  monotony  of  daily  life  is  scarcely  ever  broken 
even  by  the  unwelcome  advent  of  a  storm.  Bright  skies, 
brisk  but  not  violent  trade  winds,  dancing  white  caps,  and  a 
perpetual,  long,  nauseating  swell,  are  the  characteristics  of 
sea  and  sky,  and  one  day  is  as  much  like  another  in  all  out- 
ward aspects  as  the  proverbial  two  peas  in  a  pod. 

Before  daylight  we  hear  the  deck  hands  washing  off  the 
decks,  for  scrupulous  neatness  is  one  of  the  virtues  of  these 
ocean  steamers,  then  we  know  that  there  is  time  only  to 
stretch  and  yawn  and  coquette  with  Morpheus  for  a  little 
while  before  rising,  for  the  early  mornino^  hours  in  these 
tropical  latitudes  are  the  choicest  of  the  day  and  we  would 
make  the  most  of  them. 

At  six  will  come  the  salt  water  plunge.  A  huge  canvas 
bath  tub  is  arranged  on  the  after-deck,  well  screened  from 
eyes  polite  by  sail  cloths ;  and  toward  this  novel  bath  may 
be  seen  stealing  in  the  early  hours  certain  nondescript  male 
figures  clad  in  Indian  pajamas.  A  large  hose  brings  the 
water  in  great  volume  straight  from  the  briny  ocean  to  the 
flexible  bath,  so  that  every  few  minutes  the  water  is 
changed.  Into  this  cool  and  wholesome  tank  we  plunge, 
while  the  undulating  deck  continually  splashes  the  water  of 
our  bath  into  the  sea  again.  But  there  is  plenty  left.  We 
need  not  fear  a  famine  of  salt  water,  or  be  sparing  of  the 
refreshing  fluid.  If  there  is  one  thing  of  which  there  is 
enough  in  this  world,  it  is  the  Pacific  Ocean.  We  are  glad 
to  make  such  good  use  of  a  little  of  it.  After  the  bath  we 
dress  for  breakfast,  promenade,  read,  write,  or  watch  the 


44  APPALLING   MONOTONY  AT  MEAL  TIME. 

ever  restless  ocean,  as  the  mood  seizes  us.  until  the  gong  for 
breakfast  sounds. 

The  meals  on  shipboard  are  much  like  hotel  meals  on 
shore;  the  different  steamer  lines  vary  just  as  hotels  vary, 
some  having  a  good,  some  a  bad,  and  some  an  indifferent 
cuisine;  but  even  on  the  best  of  steamers  an  appalling 
monotony  comes  to  prevail  after  a  little.  The  meals  seem 
to  accentuate  the  sameness  of  the  voyao^e.  The  fried  sole 
tastes  like  the  mullet  and  the  mullet  like  the  cod  ;  the  chops 
and  the  steaks  seem  to  be  cut  off  of  different  sides  of  the 
same  animal,  and  to  have  been  cooked  in  the  same  frying- 
pan  ;  the  tea  and  the  coffee  are  often  of  the  railroad  eating- 
house  order,  and,  on  the  whole,  the  less  said  about  breakfast, 
dinner,  and  supper  at  sea  the  better.  Let  the  gourmand 
and  epicure  beware  of  a  long  ocean  voyage.  Even  the  most 
uncomplaining  man  may  be  excused  for  sighing  for  his 
mother's  home-made  bread  and  butter,  and  for  milk  drawn 
from  a  cow  instead  of  from  a  tin  can. 

Breakfast  is  soon  over  and  then  the  passengers,  except 
those  Avho  find  their  pleasure  in  the  smoking-room,  stretch 
out  their  steamer  chairs  and  in  turn  stretch  themselves  out 
on  them,  and  the  lazy  life  of  a  lazy  day  at  sea  begins. 

"  But  why  do  you  not  arouse  yourselves  to  intellectual 
activity?"  I  hear  Mrs.  Bostonese  Brains  inquire.  "What 
glorious  hours  to  read!  What  higli  communion  you  may 
have  with  Shakespeare  and  Milton,  with  Dante  and  Goethe ! 
AVhat  rare  opportunities  for  writing  and  meditation  and 
communion  with  nature ! "  "  Ah,  yes,  my  dear  Mrs.  Brains, 
that  all  sounds  very  well  on  paper,  and  doubtless  if  this 
■were  a  work  of  fiction  it  would  contain  some  rare  passages 
concerning  the  intellectual  activity  of  its  traveling  hero  and 
heroine;  how  they  learned  three  languages  by  the  Meister- 
schaft  System  and  conquered  the  intricacies  of  the  Integral 


LAZY    LIFE   AT    SEA.  45 

Calculus,  and  became  proficient  in  Astronomy  and  Theoso- 
phy  during-  a  four  weeks'  voyage  to  Australia.  But  this  is  a 
veracious  chronicle  of  actual  fact,  and,  if  it  is  not  very  flat- 
terinof  to  the  voyao-ers  to  sav  it,  it  must  be  confessed  that 
there  is  very  little  stimulus  to  intellectual  exertion  on  ship- 
board. Even  the  best  sailors  acknowledge  this,  and  the 
worst  are  too  much  occupied  with  agonized  thoughts  of  their 
stomachs  to  expend  much  on  the  cultivation  of  their  minds. 
So,  instead  of  finding  the  deck  transformed  into  a  bus}^  liive 
of  intellectual  workers  after  breakfast,  you  will  see  a  long 
line  of  steamer  chairs,  each  with  its  lolling  occupant,  who 
looks  as  though  the  chief  end  of  man  was  to  pass  away  the 
time  as  comfortably  and  expeditiously  as  possible. 

"Books  and  work  and  healthful  play"  are  represented, 
however,  even  on  shipboard;  the  former,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, mostly  by  volumes  drawn  from  the  Mariposa's 
library,  which  is  significantly  made  up,  nine  parts  of  novels 
and  one  part  of  books  of  travel.  The  "work"  is  repre- 
sented by  the  crochet  and  embroidery  of  the  ladies,  and 
"the  play"  by  the  two  or  three  small  boys  whose  natures 
seem  to  be  the  same  in  mid-Pacific  as  anywhere  else. 

My  young  readers  will  like  to  know  what  games  are  in 
vogue  on  shipboard.  The  standard  games  outside  of  the 
smoking-room  are  ring-toss  and  shuffle-board.  Ring-toss 
is  too  familiar  to  need  description,  but  shuffle-board  seems  to 
belong  peculiarly  to  the  ship's  deck,  and  furnishes  excellent 
exercise  for  those  who  have  some  little  muscle  at  command. 

The  game  requires  not  only  considerable  muscular 
power,  and  hence  furnishes  good  exercise,  but  gives  oc- 
casion for  much  skill  in  knocking  the  opponent  out,  and 
occupying  the  highest  squares,  for  the  motion  of  the  ever- 
undulating  deck  must  be  calculated,  the  roll  to  right  or  left 
must  be  considered,  and  a  light  or  heavy  stroke  with  the 


46 


GAMES   UPON   DECK. 


cue  must  be  given,  according  as  the  vessel  pitclies  backward 
or  forward. 

Four  usually  play  the  game,  and  the  implements  are  six 
black  and  six  white  disks  of  solid  wood,  about  six  inches  in 
diameter  and  an  inch  thick,  and  four  crutch-like  cues  or 
sticks  with  which  to  push  them  along  the  deck.  A  space  on 
the  deck  is  then  marked  off  with  chalk  and  numbered  as 
follows : 

The  players  stand  some  fif- 
teen feet  from  this  chalk-lined 
figure  on  the  deck,  place  their 
disks  on  a  line  and  try  to 
shove  them  into  the  squares^ 
marked  with  the  highest  num- 
bers. The  great  object  is  to 
shove  the  enemy  out,  and  land 
your  own  disk  within  the  cov- 
eted square.  At  the  end  of 
each  bout  the  whites  and 
])lacks  reckon  up  their  gains, 
counting  only  the  disks  that 
are  wholly  within  the  squares 
and  not  touching  any  line,  and  the  side  that  obtains  sixty-one 
points  first  is  the  wanner. 

I  do  not  know  who  the  champion  shuffle-board  player  of 
the  w^orld  may  be,  but  he  deserves  to  have  his  name  in- 
scribed on  the  immortal  roll  of  ])ase  ball  and  tennis  cham- 
pions, who,  I  suppose,  have  made  up  their  minds  that  their 
earthly  fame,  at  least,  is  secure. 

At  two  bells  (one  o'clock)  usually  comes  lunch,  and  at 
four  bells  (six  o'clock)  comes  dinner.  These  are  more  or  less 
imposing  formalities,  the  social  customs  on  some  steamers 
requiring  evening  dress  for  dinner.     After  dinner  come  the- 


10 

ON" 

8 

1 

6 

3 

5 

T 

4 

9 

2 

10 

OFF 

SHUFFLE-BOARD. 


PLEASANT  EVENING  HOURS.  47 

choice  hours  of  all  the  day.  The  glaring  tropical  sun  has 
sunk  to  rest,  the  monotonous  voice  of  the  pool  auctioneer  is 
stilled,  the  passengers  become  social  and  friendl3\  All 
nature  is  aglow ;  the  phosphorescent  gleam  appears  where- 
ever  the  ship's  prow  parts  the  waves,  the  evening  clouds 
assume  fantastic  shapes  on  the  western  horizon,  the  rosy  rays 
of  departing  day  foretell  a  bright  to-morrow,  one  by  one  the 
southern  stars  come  out  and  twinkle  down  upon  a  thousand 
dancing  wavelets,  which,  like  so  many  tiny  mirrors,  catch  up 
their  broken  light  and  send  it  heavenward  again. 

Back  and  forth,  back  and  forth,  over  the  unsteady 
deck,  tramp  the  passengers,  taking  their  evening  constitu- 
tionals, while  the  piano-girl  thrums  the  keys  inside  the 
social  room,  which  is  too  warm  in  these  latitudes  to 
attract  many  visitors.  In  this  way  the  evening  passes 
until  bedtime  comes,  early  or  late,  while  the  good  ship 
plunges  on  and  ever  on  into  the  darkness,  and  through 
the  inky  waves  with  their  silver  edges.  Thus  one  of  the 
prosaic  twenty-five  days  between  San  Francisco  and  Sydney 
is  numbered  with  the  past. 

But  one  day  of  the  week  on  sea,  as  on  shore,  is  unlike 

every  other.     Hard  as  men  try  to  secularize  it,  desperate  as 

the  efforts  are  to  degrade  it,  on  sea  as  on  shore  it  is  still 

George  Herbert's : — 

"Sweet  day,  so  cool,  so  calm,  so  bright; 
Bridal  of  earth  and  sky." 

At  least,  such  is  it  to  the  Christian  heart.  Whether  the  sun 
shines,  or  the  clouds  lower,  or  the  winds  blow,  it  is  still  the 
Sabbath,  "  bridal  of  earth  and  sky."  Even  the  inveterate 
gambler  feels  the  difference.  He  dares  not  outrage  the 
sentiment  of  the  day  by  rattling  his  poker  chips,  so  he  puffs 
his  cigar  and  sits  around  disconsolately  on  deck,  complain- 
ing that  Sundav  is  the  dreariest  dav  of  all  the  week. 


48  "there  was  no  more  sea." 

The  ship  must  plow  on  her  way,  the  sailors  and  deck- 
hands and  stewards  must  go  through  their  daily  routine  of 
work,  but  even  they  seem  to  feel  a  different  atmosphere,  and 
some  of  them  join  the  worshiping  passengers,  who,  at 
eleven  o'clock,  assemble  in  the  social  hall  for  divine  service. 
How  different  from  our  Sunday  surroundings  on  shore! 
This  unsteady  cabin  for  our  sanctuary,  a  flag-draped  shelf  for 
the  pulpit,  a  few  devout  souls  of  different  nationalities,  and 
creeds  almost  as  various  as  the  individuals,  for  worshipers. 
And  yet  there  are  some  things  that  are  ever  the  same.  God 
is  here.  The  boundless  sea  and  infinite  sky  only  seem  to 
bring  Him  nearer.  Christ  is  here,  and  "Jesus,  Lover  of  my 
Soul,"  and  "•  Eock  of  Ages,"  never  sounded  more  sweet  on 
land.  The  spirit  of  devotion  is  the  same  when  accentuated 
by  the  solemn  requiem  of  the  sea  and  the  ceaseless  swash  of 
the  waves,  as  when  borne  aloft  by  the  music  of  the  deep- 
toned  organ. 

What  is  the  meaning  of  that  text  —  "There  was  no  more 
sea"?  Some  of  the  homesick,  seasick  passengers  would  like 
to  take  it  literally  and  believe  that  the  Revelator  meant  to 
state  a  fact  in  the  physical  geography  of  heaven.  But  with 
vision  clarified  by  many  days  on  the  ocean  wave,  can  we  not 
see  other  meanings  in  the  familiar  text?  The  sea  is  a 
symbol  of  separation.  In  the  fair  country  of  which  John 
wrote  there  will  be  no  separation  of  friend  from  friend ;  for 
"there  was  no  more  sea." 

The  ocean  is  typical  of  isolation.  On  this  long  voyage 
we  have  not  seen  a  single  sail  for  weeks  on  the  far-off 
horizon.  We  have  been  completely  shut  off  from  all  man- 
kind. The  redeemed  soul  in  heaven  can  never  be  set  apart 
by  himself.  He  is  not  shut  up  in  solitary  confinement. 
There  is  no  isolation  of  the  "  Saints  in  Light."  "  There  Avas 
no  more  sea. 


1? 


ISOLATION  —  MYSTERY  —  DANGER. 


49 


The  sea  is  symbolic  of  mystery.  Straight  on  into  the 
unknown  we  have  been  phmging  ever  since  leaving  San 
Francisco.  Only  ten  or  a  dozen  miles  into  the  west  toward 
which  we  are  constantly  hastening  can  w^e  see  from  the 
steamer's  deck;  all  beyond  the  horizon  is  profoundest 
mystery,  typical  of  mysteries  no  less  profound  in  science 
and  faith,  which  surround  us  on  every  hand.  In  the  land  of 
which  John  wrote  all  problems  will  be  solved,  all  mysteries 
will  be  cleared  up.     "  There  was  no  more  sea." 

The  sea,  to  the  landsman  at  least,  will  always  mean 
danger.  Until  he  becomes  accustomed  to  their  baseless 
terrors  the  fierce  gale,  the  sudden  hurricane,  the  treacherous 
wave,  all  seem  waiting  to  engulf  him.  To  the  ancients  in 
their  little  shallops  these  dangers  must  have  been  intensified 
and  quadrupled.  But  John  in  the  Revelation  saw  a 
country  where  the  inhabitants  were  never  afraid — "  There 
was  no  more  sea." 

"  Lord,  bring  us,  when  our  voyage  of  life  is  ended,  to 
that  blessed  Land  of  Friendship  supernal,  of  Knowledge  un- 
bounded, of  Security  eternal,"  is  our  prayer  on  this  Sabbath 
on  the  sea. 


CHAPTER  11. 

ACROSS  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN  — WELCOME  AUSTRALIA. 

The  Joys  of  Terra  Firma  —  The  Playground  of  America  —  Bewildering 
Vegetation  —  Brown-skinned  Divers — Rum  and  Missionaries  —  Ten  to 
One  —  The  Future  of  the  Hawaiian  —  Our  Departure  —  "Fire,  Fire" 

—  Between  the  Flames  and  the  Sea  —  An  Exciting  Race  for  Life  — 
The  Navigators  Islands  —  The  First  Glimpse  —  The  Samoans  as  Nature 
Made  Them  —  Stalwart  Oarsmen  —  On  Shore  Again  —  Costumes  not 
from  Paris  —  Babies  in  Brown  Coats  —  The  Great  Event  of  the  Month 

—  A  Splendid  Race  —  The  Sabbath  Day  Holy  in  Samoa — A  Kingly 
Romance  —  A  Royal  Salary —  Tappa  and  Kava  —  An  Appetizing  Pro- 
cess—  Farewell  to  the  Oasis  —  An  Awful  Storm  —  A  Mournful  Spectre 

—  Our  Frolicsome  Companions  —  A  Week  without  a  Wednesday  —  An 
Exaggerated  English  Channel  —  New  Zealand's  Stern  and  Rugged 
Shores  —  Goodbye  Mariposa. 


HAT  the  green  oases  of  the  des- 
ert with  their  sweet  fountains 
and  their  sentinel  palm  trees  are 
to  the  traveler  across  the  sandy 
Sahara,  such  are  two  ports  at 
which  the  Oceanic  steamers  call, 
to  the  voyager  on  Pacific  waters. 
These  two  oases  are  Honolulu  in 
the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  Apia 
in  the  Samoan  group. 

After  only  seven  days  on  the  wil- 
derness of  waves  we  can  truth- 
fully say  with  Tennyson : 

"We  have  had  enough  of  action  and  of  motion  ;  we 
Rolled  to  starboard,  roll'd  to  larboard,  when  the  surge  w'as  seething  free, 
Where  the  wallowing  monster  spouted  his  foam  fountains  in  the  sea." 

(50) 


AN   OASIS    IN   THE   DESERT    OF   WATERS.  51 

and  now,  very  early  on  the  seventh  morning  after  the  "  God 
be  with  you "  sounded  in  our  ears  from  the  San  Francisco 
pier,  we  see  a  faint  cloud-like  form  in  the  dim  horizon.  Is  it 
a  cloud  or  a  mountain  ?  Is  it  a  mist-bank  or  solid  terra 
firmaf  The  strengthening  daylight  soon  and  joyously 
resolves  our  doubts.  That  blue  cloud-like  mountain  is  land ; 
solid,  substantial,  stable  soil ;  good  gritty  ground,  which  we 
are  eager  to  tread  at  the  first  possible  moment. 

We  do  not  have  long  to  wait,  for  soon  the  Marijposa 
steams  majestically  into  the  harbor,  dwarfing  Avitli  her  huge 
bulk  all  the  little  pigmy  boats  that  come  out  to  meet  her, 
and  very  quickly  she  is  made  fast  to  the  Honolulu  pier. 

AVhat  a  new  world  we  are  in  !  How  suddenly  our  green 
oasis  has  risen  out  of  the  blue  desert  of  the  waters  !  It  can- 
not be  that  we  are  onl}^  2,100  miles  from  San  Francisco. 
By  all  the  ordinary  analogies  of  travel  we  have  come,  at 
least,  twenty  millions  of  Dniles.  We  could  easily  imagine 
ourselves  on  a  different  planet. 

The  vegetation  is  strange,  the  people  are  unique,  every 
thing  is  different  from  the  land  we  have  left.  The  drive, 
rush,  and  nervous  haste  of  an  American  city  has  given  way 
to  the  languor  and  luxurious  ease  of  a  tropical  pleasure 
resort. 

As  Switzerland  is  the  summer  playground  of  Europe,  the 
Sandwich  Islands  some  day  will  become  the  summer  and 
winter  playground  alike  of  America,  for,  with  its  delicious 
air  and  equable  temperature,  rarely  too  warm  and  never  too 
cool,  all  seasons  are  its  own. 

What  magnificent  palm  trees  are  these  of  almost  count- 
less varieties !  Cocoanut  palms,  tall  and  stately,  with  the 
yellow  nuts  hiding  far  up  under  the  tufted  fronds ;  date  palms 
with  their  clusters  of  golden  fruit  ;  royal  palms  with  their 
weeping    plumes    and    tassels ;    breadfruit    trees,   alligator 


0^  DIVING   FOR  A   NICKEL. 

pears,  tamarinds,  and  feathery  algeroba  trees  (on  whose 
'^  husks  "  the  prodigal  ol  the  parable  would  fain  have  fed). 
The  variety  is  bewildering  to  a  traveler  from  temperate 
climes. 

The  people,  too,  always  more  interesting  than  trees  or 
vegetables,  are  as  varied  as  the  trees  which  wave  their 
"■fronded  palms"  above  them.  The  little  naked,  brown- 
skinned   divers   on   the    wharf    attract   our  attention   first. 


YOUNG   SWIMMERS   OF   HONOLULU. 


They  are  all  ready,  like  little  lads  of  fairer  skins,  to  pick  up 
an  honest  penny  Avherever  they  can  find  it.  So  we  toss  a 
nickel  into  the  water  and  over  they  leap.  A  dozen  brown 
heads  disappear  beneath  the  waves,  two  dozen  Avhitey-brown 
soles  appear  wriggling  vigorously  where  a  second  before 
the  heads  appeared,  a  momentary  but  unseen  struggle  for 
the  coveted  nickel  takes  place  beneath  the  water,  and  then 


VICES  AND   VIRTUES   OF   CIVILIZATION.  53 

the  little  brown  heads  bob  up  serenely,  and  the  brown  hand 
of  the  victorious  urchin  appears  above  the  brine,  holding  up 
the  piece  of  money  to  show  that  he  is  the  winner,  before  he 
deposits  it  in  that  ever  ready  bank  —  his  mouth.  Then, 
\^'ith  his  companions,  he  is  ready  for  another  dive  and 
another  struggle  for  the  coveted  piece  of  silver. 

But  we  must  not  linger  on  the  steamer  or  on  the  wharf, 
for  there  are  equally  novel  sights  on  shore.  There  is  China- 
town with  its  swarming  Celestials,  Portuguese  settlements 
with  their  swarthv,  ^ailv  bedecked  inhabitants,  beautiful 
American  and  English  homes  embowered  in  palms  and  trop- 
ical plants  of  all  kinds,  and  the  quarters  of  dusky  natives  in 
scanty  clothing  and  with  gay  ^vreaths  around  their  hats, 
happy,  improvident,  good-natured,  and  lazy. 

The  lover  of  the  picturesque  in  human  nature,  as  well  as 
in  nature  physical  and  geographical,  can  find  enough  to 
interest  him  for  many  a  day  in  Honolulu. 

Are  the  natives  destined  to  extinction?  Ah,  that  is  a 
question  that  only  time  will  solve.  But,  if  they  are,  it  must 
be  remembered  that  it  will  be  due  to  civilization's  vices  and 
not  to  civilization's  virtues  or  Christ's  religion. 

When  it  is  borne  in  mind  that  even  before  Capt.  Cook's 
advent,  the  islands  and  the  islanders  had  passed  the  climax  of 
their  glory  as  a  race ;  that  they  were  engaged  in  destructive 
wars  with  each  other  which  were  sometimes  wars  of  extermi- 
nation ;  when  we  remember  that  probably  ten  ship  loads  of 
rum  have  been  sent  out  from  Christian  England  and  America 
for  every  missionary  the}'  have  dispatched ;  that  it  has  taken 
the  Latin  races  eighteen  centuries,  and  the  Saxon  races 
nearly  as  long,  to  reach  their  present  unstable  Christian 
equilibrium,  and  their  still  imperfect  civilization;  we  are 
surprised,  not  that  the  islanders  are  so  imperfect  and  so 
prone  to  fetishism  and  idolatry,  but  that  in  a  few  years 


54  FROM   HONOLULU   TO   APIA. 

they  have  acquired  so  much  of  the  Spirit  of  Him  wlio  was 
pure  and  liarmless  and  undefiled,  and  who  went  about  doing 
good.  The  missionary  influence  is  still  strong  in  this  beauti- 
ful land,  and  it  shows  no  signs  of  waning. 

Many  of  the  most  beautiful  residences  are  owned  by 
missionaries'  sons,  wlio  are  lo3"al  to  the  faitli  of  their  fathers, 
and  much  of  the  lousiness  of  the  islands  is  in  the  hands  of 
these  Christian  men.  They  are  influential  in  the  halls  of 
legislation  and  shape  the  affairs  of  government.  So  long  as 
such  men  are  to  the  fore  there  is  confident  hope  for  this 
lovely  oasis  of  the  Pacific  Desert. 

But  the  JSIariposa's  w^arning  whistle  sounds;  we  must 
hasten  to  the  wharf.  As  we  stepped  aboard,  our  friends, 
according  to  the  beautiful  Hawaiian  custom,  covered  us  with 
garlands  of  jasmine  and  sweet-scented  leaves,  and  loaded  us 
with  fruits  and  beautiful  flowers.  The  royal  Hawaiian  band 
of  forty  pieces  played  "God  Save  the  Queen"  and  "The 
Star  Spangled  Banner,"  and  we  were  off  once  more  across 
the  watery  w^aste,  bound  for  another  paradise  of  the  Pacific 
■ —  Samoa. 

At  about  equal  distances  are  these  two  oases  situated 
between  San  Francisco  and  Sydney, —  Honolulu  twenty-one 
hundred  miles  from  America,  Apia  twenty-one  hundred 
miles,  or  seven  days,  further.  But,  though  we  are  sailing 
over  summer  seas  and  there  is  little  to  disturb  the  dreamy 
monotony  of  this  particular  journey,  let  not  the  reader  think 
that  the  voyages  are  always  uneventful. 

Such  was  not  the  case  on  that  voyage  of  the  Mariposa, 
when  very  early  in  the  morfiing,  so  early  in  fact  that  only 
the  sailors  of  the  morning  watch  heard  it,  the  dreadful  cry 
of  -"  Fire  —  fire "  refunded  throughout  the  ship,  and,  on 
opening  the  hatchAvay,  a  dense  volume  of  black  smoke 
poured  up,  stifling  all  who  came  too  near.     The  hose  was 


AN   AWFUL   SECRET.  55 

turned  on,  but  the  huge  stream  of  water  had  no  effect  on 
the  burning  flax  which  composed  the  cargo.  Then  the 
hatches  were  battened  down,  a  small  hole  bored  through 
the  partition,  and  a  steam  pipe  turned  in  upon  the  fire,  but 
that  was  equally  useless.  Several  men  who  went  below  to 
hoist  up  the  burning  bales  of  flax  were  asphyxiated,  and 
Avith  much  exertion  were  brought  back  to  life  again.  At 
length  the  captain,  seeing  that  nothing  could  prevail, 
stopped  up  every  possible  crevice  leading  to  the  cargo, 
turned  his  vessel  about,  and  steamed  for  Auckland,  the 
nearest  port,  more  than  three  hundred  miles  distant. 

What  can  be  more  awful  than  a  ship  on  fire  in  mid- 
ocean?  Between  the  two  devouring  elements,  who  can  hope 
to  escape  ?  The  unpitying  fire  within,  the  remorseless  sea 
without!  For  those  who  knew  it,  what  an  awful  secret 
must  the  knowledge  of  that  smouldering  cargo  have  been? 
But  few  comparatively  knew  of  the  disaster.  With  rare 
presence  of  mind  Capt.  Hay  ward  and  his  officers  kept  the 
matter  to  themselves.  The  good  ship  fairly  seemed  to  leap 
through  the  water.  Never  did  she  do  better  credit  to  her 
builders.  She  seemed  to  realize  that  she  was  racing  for  life. 
The  passengers  —  most  of  them  —  did  not  notice  that  she 
had.  turned  about  and  was  headed  west  instead  of  east. 
The  captain  suggested  a  concert  in  the  evening  to  divert 
attention,  and  it  was  carried  out  in  the  highest  style  of 
nautical  art.  The  awful  secret  was  blazing:  in  the  hold, 
and  the  tell-tale  smoke  sometimes  escaped  and  wreathed 
itself  above  the  deck.  And  still  the  Mariposa  plowed  on 
and  on  and  on,  until  at  last  the  welcome  headlands  of 
Auckland  harbor  loomed  up  and  the  wharf  was  safely 
reached :  the  treacherous  cargo  was  discharged,  and  two 
hundred  lives  that  hung  on  a  thread  so  slender  were 
saved. 


56  PALMS  AND  CORAL  REEFS. 

It  was  soon  after  noon  on  a  gray  and  squally  day  that 
Tve  first  caught  sight  of  the  hills  that  rise  behind  the  town 
of  Apia,  and,  after  that,  with  the  eagerness  of  landsmen 
long  at  sea,  we  could  not  keep  our  eyes  off  the  enchanting 
spectacle.  Little  by  little,  the  encircling  bay  of  Apia  with  its 
fringe  of  majestic  palms,  its  outer  coral  reef  on  which  the 
surf  was  dashing  high,  and  its  row  of  native  huts  interspersed 
with  a  few  European  cottages,  came  into  view,  and  we  feasted 
our  eyes  to  our  hearts'  content  on  this  lovely  shore.  Imme- 
diately behind  the  village  rises  a  conical  hill,  some  six 
or  eight  hundred  feet  high,  and  in  front  the  shore  is  lapped 
by  the  bright  azure-tinted  water,  whose  depths  sparkle  with 
coral  and  sea  anemones  and  bright-colored  fish. 

But  we  are  still  more  interested  in  the  Samoans  than  in 
Samoa ;  in  men  and  women  and  boys  and  girls,  than  in  hills 
and  palm  trees  and  coral  reefs  and  fishes.  And  here  they 
come :  Samoans  of  both  sexes  and  of  all  ages,  for  the  arrival 
of  the  monthly  mail  steamer  is  a  great  event  in  Apia.  Some 
of  them  are  in  neatly  painted  white  rowboats,  but  most  of 
them  put  off  to  meet  us  in  their  native  dug-outs,  long,  shal- 
low, and  exceedingly  narrow  boats  that  would  tip  over  in  a 
twinkling,  even  though  the  oarsman's  hair  might  be  parted 
in  the  middle,  were  it  not  for  the  inevitable  outrider  with 
which  they  are  all  rigged.  This  outrider  consists  of  a  long 
piece  of  light  cork-like  wood,  nearly  the  length  of  the  canoe, 
attached  to  it  with  braces  at  each  end.  In  these  light,  frail 
canoes  the  natives  ride  in  the  greatest  security  and  go 
through  the  heaviest  surf.  What  a  picturesque  sight  it  is ! 
There  is  a  young  girl  with  a  bright  shawl  about  her  waist 
sitting  as  composedly  and  as  self -poised  as  a  queen  in  her 
little  canoe,  while  around  her  feet  is  a  wealth  of  cocoanuts, 
mangoes,  pineapples,  and  bananas,  which  she  offers  for  sale 
in  a  dignified  way ;  a  whole  bunch  of  the  latter  "  for  two 


SAMOAN  SURF  BOATS  AND  BOATMEX.  57 

bits  "  (twenty-five  cents).  There  is  another  large  boat  ap- 
proaching bearing  some  official  from  the  island,  and  rowed 
by  half  a  dozen  stalwart,  bronze-colored  natives,  whose  bare 
skins,  rubbed  down  with  abundant  cocoanut  oil,  glisten  in 
the  sunlight.  Their  muscles  stand  out  like  whipcord  as 
they  row  in  perfect  time  and  splendid  form,  the  despair  of 
any  Yale  or  Harvard  crew  that  might  witness  the  sight. 
There  is  another  native  boat  loaded  with  fresh  fish,  neatly 
bundled  up  in  huge  green  leaves,  while  sparkling  shells  and 
coral  branches  make  up  the  rest  of  her  little  cargo.  And  here 
is  a  native  who  somehow  has  scrambled  aboard  the  Mariposa 
in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  crew  to  keep  him  off,  and  he 
jabbers  and  gesticulates  at  us  in  true  hackman  style.  We 
could  not  understand  a  word  he  said,  but  the  unspoken 
language  of  a  cabman  is  the  same  the  world  over,  so  we 
accepted  his  offer,  which  we  understood  was  to  take  us 
ashore  for'  "  two  bits,"  the  universal  standard  of  value  in 
these  regions.  We  crawled  down  the  ship's  side  by  the 
rope  ladder,  aided  by  two  strong  pair  of  arms,  and  were 
soon  landed  at  the  little  pier. 

There  a  strange  and  novel  sight,  indeed,  greeted  our 
eyes.  The  wharf  and  the  streets  were  swarming  with 
natives,  young  and  old,  in  all  kinds  of  costumes  and  in  no 
costumes  at  all,  who  had  come  down  to  the  water's  edge  to 
see  the  great  event  of  the  month,  the  arrival  of  the  mail 
steamer  from  America.  If  ever  there  was  a  picturesque 
throng  of  people  this  was  one.  The  Mother  Hubbard  dress 
seemed  to  be  the  most  popular  for  the  women,  and  for  some 
of  the  men,  too,  for  that  matter,  but  as  few  could  indulge  in 
such  vanities  as  an  everyday  affair  there  were  all  kinds  of 
variations  from  the  standard  mode. 

One  man  strutted  proudly  \ij  with  as  much  dignity  as  a 
Beau  Brummel  or  a  Lord  Chesterfield  could  assume,  with  a 


58  STALWART   AND   GENTLE   CHRISTIAN   PEOPLE. 

piece  of  the  native  tappa  throAvn  negligently  across  his 
shoulders;  another  stalked  past  with  a  bright  red  tablecloth 
about  his  loins ;  a  group  of  young  girls  evidently  just  out 
from  the  mission  school,  went  tripping  past  arrayed  in  a 
piece  of  white  cloth,  with  a  beautiful  garland  of  flowers 
across  their  shoulders,  while  babies  were  invariably  arrayed 
solely  in  the  beautiful  brown  coat  which  nature  first  gave 
them. 

The  Samoans  are  a  splendid  race,  physically  considered ; 
the  most  stalwart,  as  well  as  the  most  gentle  of  all  the 
South  Sea  Islanders.  I  did  not  see  a  single  ugly  or  ma- 
lignant face  during  my  stay  at  Apia.  Homely  features 
there  are  as  in  every  crowd,  but  few  malevolent,  vicious, 
sinister  faces;  smiling  looks,  nnsuspicious  manners,  intelli- 
gent and  even  courtly  politeness  I  saw  everywhere. 

After  seeing  these  men  and  women  I  could  easily  believe 
what  had  been  told  me  —  that  all  the  natives  were  Chris- 
tians. About  five  thousand  of  them  are  Catholic,  five 
thousand  more  are  AYesleyans,  and  the  rest  of  the  forty 
thousand  inhabitants  are  under  the  care  of  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society,  which,  through  its  excellent  missionaries, 
most  admirably  looks  after  their  spiritual  interests.  "Oh, 
but  they  are  only  nominal  Christians,"  I  can  hear  my  skep- 
tical reader  exclaim.  Well,  dear  reader,  if  we  may  judge 
them  by  their  fruits  their  Christianity  is  not  so  "  nominal " 
as  that  of  most  of  the  people  who  live  in  New  York  and 
Boston,  Chicago  and  San  Francisco.  If  our  steamer  had  en- 
tered the  harbor  of  Apia  on  a  Sunday  not  a  single  canoe  or 
gaily  decked  native  would  have  come  out  to  welcome  us. 
'Not  a  cocoanut  or  a  bunch  of  bananas  would  have  been 
offered  for  sale.  All  the  canoes  would  have  been  hauled  up 
on  the  beach,  high  and  dry,  and  at  church  time  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  in  the  place,  barring  the  sick,  would  have 


A  COMPARISON  IN  FAVOR  OF  THE  SAMOANS.      59 

been  seen  wending  their  way  to  church.  Not  such  a  nom- 
inal rehgion  is  that  which  thus  remembers  the  Sabbath  day 
to  keep  it  holy. 

If  we  should  enter  any  one  of  these  native  huts  at  break- 
fast time  we  should  see  all  the  heads  reverently  bowed 
while  the  Divine  Blessing  was  asked,  and  afterwards  all  the 
family  would  come  together  for  morning  prayers.  If  we 
should  live  among  them  we  should  find  them  honest,'  gentle, 
peaceable,  kind-hearted,  affectionate  neighbors.  Not  merely 
nominal  Christian  graces  are  these. 

To  be  sure  they  have  their  faults.  They  are  lazy  and 
improvident.  The  family  tie  is  not  observed  as  it  should  be, 
and  doubtless  they  have  minor  blemishes.  But  tell  me,  dear 
Mrs.  Beacon  Street  or  Mr.  Fifth  Avenue,  are  you  ready  to 
cast  the  first  stone?  The  white  lioht  of  Christianity  has 
been  beating  upon  your  head  and  the  heads  of  your  ances- 
tors for  eighteen  hundred  years.  It  is  but  little  more  than 
sixty  years  since  the  Sun  of  Eighteousness  arose  upon 
Samoa.  You,  all  your  lives,  have  been  inhaling  the  air  of 
Christlike  devotion,  which  once  made  the  martyrs  strong  to 
do  and  dare  for  God.  These  people,  until  within  sixty 
years,  have  lived  in  the  fetid  atmosphere  of  heathenism. 
For  many  generations  your  forefathers  have  been  growing 
strong  while  feeding  on  the  Bread  of  Life.  Only  one  gener- 
ation has  passed  away  since  the  symbolic  bread  was  broken 
and  the  emblematic  wine  was  first  poured  in  Samoa.  Who 
will  doul^t  the  power  of  Christianity,  or  deride  the  value  of 
missionary  labor  after  studying  the  history  of  Samoa?  And 
yet  there  are  self-sufficient,  purblind  people  who,  with  an  air 
of  knowing  all  about  it,  will  tell  you  that  the  missionaries 
have  done  more  harm  than  good,  that  they  are  responsible 
for  the  gradual  extinction  of  the  natives,  and  that  when 
converted,  the  natives  are  not  worth  the  labor  expended. 


GO  ROYAL  VICISSITUDES. 

One  finds  nuuiv  men  and  women  who  talk  in  this  way 
on  the  very  steamers  wliich  visit  these  islands,  and  among 
those  Avho  actually  see  these  transforming  wonders  of  Chris- 
tianity. I  have  always  noticed,  however,  that  the  men  who 
talk  thus  spend  most  of  their  time  in  the  smoking-room 
playing  poker  or  betting  on  the  ship's  run,  while  the  women 
who  express  such  opinions  seem  to  have  no  souls  above  the 
fancy  work  or  the  pack  of  cards  they  hold  in  their  hands. 
I,  for  one,  should  be  perfectly  willing  to  set  off  Samoan 
moralitv  as^ainst  theirs. 

The  Mariposa  only  remained  in  Apia  long  enough  to 
exchange  mails  and  discharge  a  little  freight,  so  we  had  but 
one  or  two  brief,  delightful  hours  on  shore.  But  these  were 
enough  to  fill  us  with  a  longing  to  spend  as  many  w^eeks. 
However,  we  had  time  to  see  the  long  straggling  street ;  the 
new  native  church,  a  beautiful  and  commodious  stone  struct- 
ure; the  consulates  and  land  commissioners'  offices  of 
the  three  powers,  America,  England,  and  Germany,  that 
really  govern  Samoa ;  the  beautiful  grounds  and  pleasant 
buildings  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  and  the  royal 
hut  of  King  Malietoa  surrounded  by  palm  trees  and  luxuri- 
ant tropical  plants  of  all  kinds.  This  good  King,  like  some 
sovereigns  of  more  extensive  domains,  has  had  his  ups  and 
downs.  Nearly  twenty  years  ago  he  was  elected  King,  and 
for  about  ten  years  he  reigned  in  tranquillity,  protected  by 
treaties  with  Germany,  England,  and  the  United  States. 
Then,  however,  owing  to  the  interference  of  the  Germans, 
who  had  cast  a  covetous  eye  on  Samoa,  which  Uncle  Sam 
was  none  too  quick  to  see  and  to  resent,  feuds  arose,  a  rival 
claimant  tried  to  seize  the  sceptre,  and  King  Malietoa  was 
sent  as  an  exile  to  a  distant  island  in  the  western  Pacific. 
But  Germany's  avaricious  plans  were  frustrated,  the  spuri- 
ous claimant  whom  she  had  supported  was  defeated,  and 


CLOTH  FROM  MULBERRY  BARK.  61 

Malietoa  was  brought  back  and  re-established  on  his  throne, 
■which  was  then  protected  by  the  presence  of  a  man-of-war 
from  the  United  States  IS'avy.  He  is  a  good  and  thoughtful 
Christian  man,  who  sets  a  kingly  example  to  all  his  people, 
I  am  glad  to  hear  that  his  salary  has  just  been  raised  and 
that  he  now  receives  the  royal  sum  of  one  hundred  dollars  a 
month. 

While  we  were  on  shore  a  slight  shower  arose  —  a  very 
common  occm'rence  in  Apia  —  and  as  ^xe  were  without 
umbrellas  or  mackintoshes  we  sought  shelter  in  a  friendly 
native  hut,  which  consists  simply  of  a  thatched  roof  open  on 
every  side  to  the  winds  of  heaven.  We  were  received  with 
the  utmost  politeness,  and  though  there  were  no  chairs  or 
lounofes,  and  we  were  oblio;ed  either  to  stand  or  to  sit  on  the 
floor,  we  felt  none  the  less  welcome.  While  thus  taking 
shelter  we  bought  from  one  of  the  natives  a  large  square  of 
tappa.  the  native  cloth,  which  is  ingeniously  made  of  the 
inner  bark  of  a  mulberry  tree.  This  bark  is  first  laid  in  the 
bed  of  a  running  stream  to  soak.  After  a  sufficient  time  the 
pieces  of  bark  are  laid,  layer  by  layer,  upon  a  log,  and 
then  beaten  out  to  the  width  required  by  heavy  wooden 
mallets.  When  the  strips  have  been  beaten  for  some  time 
they  become  blended  into  one  mass,  which,  by  the  addition 
of  fresh  bark,  can  be  increased  in  length  and  width  as 
required. 

In  the  beautiful  museum  at  Honolulu  the  Curator  has 
arranged  squares  of  this  tappa,  which  are  dyed  in  all  imagin- 
able beautiful  colors,  in  a  window  through  which  the 
western  light  shines.  At  a  little  distance  one  can  hardly 
believe  that  it  is  not  delicate  stained  glass. 

Another  peculiar  product  of  Samoa  is  kava,  the  South 
Pacific  native  drink.  Miss  Emma  A,  Adams  in  her  pleasant 
little  book  about  Fiji  and  Samoa  tells  how  it  is  made:  — 


62 


WEAK   TEA   AND   MEDICATED   SOAPSUDS." 


"  Kava  is  prepared  from  the  root  of  a  s})ecies  of  pepper 
tree,  found  on  most  of  these  groups.  The  shrub  attains  a 
height  of  five  or  six  feet,  and  has  a  pretty  green  foliage, 
tinged  -with  })urp]e.  The  root,  having  been  thoroughlv 
washed,  is  cut  in  small  slices,  which  are  distributed  to  young 
persons  with  perfect  teeth  to  be  masticated,  by  which  pro- 
cess they  are  reduced  to  a  complete  pulp.     Mouthful  after 


SAMOAN   GIRLS  MAKING   KAVA. 


mouthful  of  these  little  pulpy  masses  is  thrown  into  a  large 
bowl,  ceremoniously  placed  in  front  of  the  one  who  is  to 
serve  the  beverage,  and  water  is  then  poured  upon  them. 
The  mass  is  now  worked  with  the  hand  until  all  the  strength 
and  virtue  of  the  fibre  is  expressed,  when  it  is  deftly  strained 
away  with  a  bunch  of  long  fibre  from  the  inner  bark  of  the 
hibiscus,  and  the  liquid  is  now  ready  for  drinking.  Its 
appearance  is  like  that  of  weak  tea,  its  taste  lilce  that  of 
medicated  soapsuds.''     "Will  j^ou  have  a  cup,  my  reader  ? 


THE   FURY    OF   A   TROPICAL    STORM. 


63 


But  our  brief  respite  from  the  desert  of  the  sea  is  nearly 
over.  Our  hour  in  the  Oasis  is  spent  and  the  deep-toned 
whistle  of  the  Mariposa  calls  us  on  board  again. 

Keluctantly  we  tear  ourselves  away  from  our  brief 
glimpse  of  paradise,  but  go  we  must.  On  the  w^ay  back  to 
the  steamer  we  pass  the  gaunt  and  mournful  spectre  of  the 
Adler,  one  of  the  unfortunate  German  men-of-war,  which,  in 
the  awful  gale  of  March  15,  1889,  was  lifted  bodily  from  the 
water  and  with  great  fury  cast  upon  the  top  of  the  reef  and 


,iX''' 


^^ 


ALL   THAT   REMAINS   OP   THE    "ADLER." 

turned  over  on  her  side.  There  she  still  lies,  her  poor  ribs 
exposed  and  bare,  with  the  daylight  shining  through  them 
everywhere,  an  awful  spectacle  of  the  fury  of  a  tropical 
storm  in  this  quiet  bay.  Near  by,  but  under  the  waves,  lies 
her  companion  gunboat,  the  Eher^  and  the  two  United  States 
steamers,  Yandalia  and  Trenton^  which  were  w^recked  and 
utterly  destroyed  in  the  same  fearful  gale  in  which  tliere 
perished  four  American  officers  and  forty-seven  men,  and 
nine  German  officers  and  eighty-seven  men.  !Nine  hundred 
men  were  saved  from  the  wrecked  shipping  in  the  harbor, 
who   were   provided   for   with  the   utmost  generosity  and 


64  BOUNDLESS  SKIES  AND   ENDLESS   SEAS. 

limnunity  by  the  native  Samoans  and  the  foreign  residents. 
As  the  Mariposa  steams  out  of  the  quiet  coral  reef  with  the 
frail  native  boats  dancing  all  about  her,  it  is  hard  to  realize 
that  this  peaceful  bay  was  ever  the  scene  of  such  devastating 
fury. 

Kow  Ave  mav  congratulate  ourselves  that  we  are  more 
than  half  way  to  Sydney,  more  than  five  thousand  miles 
behind  us,  less  than  three  thousand  miles  before  us.  Bound- 
less skies  above  us,  endless  seas  around  us ;  that  is  the 
history  of  the  next  six  days.  Boundless  skies  flecked  by 
many  a  cloud  and  sometimes  gray  and  angry  with  the  Storm 
King's  wrath";  endless  seas  flecked  by  never  a  sail  and  dark- 
ened by  no  trailing  steamers'  smoke,  for,  saving  the  Arctic 
and  Antarctic  seas,  we  are  on  the  loneliest  ocean  of  all. 

Only  an  occasional  school  of  gamboling  dolphins,  "  skip 
jacks  "  the  sailors  appropriately  call  them,  enliven  the  scene. 
In  the  perfect  abandon  of  good  spirits  they  chase  each  other 
through  the  water,  tumble  over  each  other,  dive  under  each 
other,  and  sometimes  bear  down  upon  the  ship,  leaping  high 
in  the  air  and  turning  their  yellow  bellies  to  the  sun  for  the 
mere  fun  of  the  thing,  as  boys  dive  off  a  log  one  after  the 
other  to  work  off  their  animal  spirits.  Then  after  chasing 
the  ship  for  a  dozen  miles  or  more  they  disappear  as 
suddenly  as  they  came  and  leave  us  to  the  sole  companion- 
ship of  the  mild-eyed,  curious  albatross,  which  circles 
a,round  and  around  and  around  and  sometimes  falls  behind 
but  never  allows  the  steamer  to  get  out  of  sight.  The  last 
thing  at  night  our  albatrosses  are  there,  sometimes  follow- 
ino^  in  our  wake,  sometunes  circlino-  over  our  verv  heads. 
The  first  thing  in  the  morning,  however  early  we  rise,  there 
they  are  again,  the  most  graceful  birds  that  flv,  just  lifting 
their  wings  and  steering  their  course  and  allowing  the  wind, 
apparently,  to  do  all  the  work  of  flying  for  them. 


SIX   DAYS   MAKE   ONE  WEEK. 


65 


Thus  convoyed  we  sailed  on  over  the  watery  waste. 
The  necessities  of  longitudinal  reckoning  gave  us  one  week 
without  a  Wednesday.  We  went  to  bed  one  Tuesday  night 
and  waked  up  on  Thursday  morning  and  yet  we  had  only 
slept  our  regulation  eight  hours.  My  readers,  who  will 
remember  that  we  pass  the  180°  meridian  of  longitude 
between  Samoa  and  Auckland,  will  understand  the  reason 


i« 


A  MAOKI  HOrSE. 


for  this  week  with  only  six  days  in  it.  But  this  week  was 
quite  long  enough.  We  are  very  ready  to  spare  one  day  out 
of  it,  and  very  willing  to  welcome  the  bluff  and  rugged 
shores  of  New  Zealand  on  the  sixth  dav  out  from  Samoa. 

This  wonderful  island,  whose  shores  look  not  unlike  the 
rockbound  coast  of  our  own  ISTew  England,  deserves  to  have 
a  whole  book  devoted  to  it.  Its  wonderful  natural  re- 
sources, its  curious  vegetable  and  animal  products,  its  war- 
like race  of  natives,  the  fierce  Maoris,  and  its  intrepid  and 
enterprising  colonists,  who  have  already  made  New  Zealand 


66 


IN   THE   STREETS   OF   AUCKLAND. 


one  of  the  brightest  jewels  in  Her  Majesty's  crown,  tempt 
the  chronicler's  pen  to  linger  long.  But  Ave  only  had  time 
to  see  the  fine,  solidly  built  streets  of  Auckland,  with  its  fine, 
business  blocks,  its  handsome  government  buildings,  and  its 
great  tabernacle  erected  by  Rev.  Thomas  Spurgeon,  a  son  of 


MAORI   IDOLS. 


the  famous  preacher ;  to  receive  a  most  hearty  welcome 
from  Auckland's  ministers,  and  lay  Christian  workers,  to 
attend  a  thoroughly  enthusiastic  Christian  Endeavor  meet- 
ing in  the  Ponsonby  Baptist  Church,  and  then  we  w^ere  off 
again ;  always  off,  for  the  restless  Mariposa  w^ill  never 
be  satisfied  until  she  reaches  her  dock  at  Sydney. 

Then  came  five  days  more  of  ocean  traveling  across  the 


SAFE  WITHIN  THE  HARBOR  OF   SYDNEY. 


67 


wide  and  turbulent  channel  that  stretches  between  New 
Zealand  and  Australia.  This  particular  strip  of  water  has 
a  very  bad  reputation.  It  is  considered  a  kind  of  exagger- 
ated English  Channel,  and  my  readers  Avho  have  experienced 
the  bitterness  of  that  piece  of  salt  water  between  Newhaven 
and  Diep])e,  or  Dover  and  Calais,  will  understand  all  the 
miseries  which  such  a  voyage  implies.  Think  of  spending 
five  days  tossing  about  like  an  intoxicated  cork  on  the 
Eno'lish  Channel,  and  vou  will  know  something  of  what  the 
voyage  between  Auckland  and  Sydney  often  is.  But,  fortu- 
nately, on  this  voyage  Neptune  did  not  seriously  test  our 
courage  or  our  seamanship.  We  had  bright  skies  and  com- 
paratively smooth  seas,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  fifth  day 
from  Auckland  and  the  twenty-fifth  from  San  Francisco, 
"land  ahead"  was  the  welcome  cry;  Sydney  Heads  loomed 
up  in  the  distance ;  we  found  our  way  through  the  narrow 
channel  which  Capt.  Cook  so  narrowly  missed  a  hundred 
years  ago,  and,  after  three  and  one-half  weeks  of  rolling  and 
tossing  and  pitching  and  heaving  on  the  vast  Pacific,  found 
ourselves  safe  within  the  splendid  land-locked  harbor  of 
Sydney,  to  which  our  good  pilot  had  steered  over  7,000  miles 
of  trackless  lonely  waves. 

Goodbye,  Mariposa.     Welcome,  Australia. 


CHAPTER  III. 


A   NEW   CONTINENT  — FIRST  IMPRESSIONS  OF   AUSTRALIA. 


New  Continent — A  Magnificent  Harbor — Torres'  Mistake  —  The 
Flight  of  the  Dove — "The  Endeavor"  —  An  Important  Astronomi- 
cal Discovery  —  A  Vast  Noah's  Ark  —  Great  Grandfather  Animals  — 
The  Bushman  and  His  Fate — What  the  Savage  could  not  do  —  Un- 
certain Rain  and  Certain  Drought  —  Australian  Oddities  —  Confused 
Trees  —  Topsy-Turvyness  —  Preconceived  Notions  —  The  Englishman 
the  World  Over  —  The  Evolution  of  the  Yankee  Drawl  —  Colonial 
Days  —  "  The  Great  American  Desert  "  — Mother  and  Daughter —  How 
the  Old  Lady  Treats  Her  Child  —  English  or  American  —  Architectural 
Differences  —  Big  Names  —  "  Elevator  "or  "  Lift  "  —  "  Barber's  Shop  " 
"Tonsorial  Palace"  —  American  Inventions  in  Australia  —  The  Home 
of  Anarchy  and  Unrest  —  Country  Life  versus  City  Life  —  The  "  Bluey" 
and  the  "Billy  "  —  The  ' '  Larrikin  "  —  A  "  New  Chum  "  —  Modesty  Be- 
coming a  Literary  New  Chum. 


TRAVELER'S  first  impressions 
of  a  new  land,  while  not  always 
the  most  accurate,  are  usually 
the  most  vivid  and  interesting. 
How  many  pulses  have  thrilled 
with  curiosity  and  pleasure  as 
they  have  seen  the  rough  coast 
of  old  Ireland  for  the  first  time 
when  approaching  the  Old  World 
from  the  New,  for  there  in  the 
shadowy  distance,  somewhere  be- 
hind the  froAvning  cliffs  of  Erin, 
lies  all  the  mystery  of  antiquity,  all  the  historic  associations 
of  2,000  years.     In  fact,  the  accumulation  of  6,000  years  of 

history  and  civilization  are  represented  by  that  little  stormy 

(68) 


SYDNEY   HEADLANDS   AND    HARBOR.  69 

strip  of  Irish  coast  to  the  voyager  from  the  hind  Avhich  has 
few  monuments  and  no  ruins,  and  only  a  brief  history. 

With  every  new  land  one  approaches,  these  first  impres- 
sions are  renewed,  and  so  when  the  bluff  lines  of  Svdnev 
Heads  rear  themselves  on  the  horizon  we  eao^erlv  crane  our 
necks  and  strain  our  eyes  for  a  glimpse  of  the  new  Australian 
continent  which  is  about  to  open  before  us.  We  do  not  have 
to  wait  long  for  a  fuller  revelation  of  the  fair  vision,  for 
very  soon  after  the  headlands  are  sighted  we  steam  in  be- 
tween the  two  sentinels  that  guard  the  magnificent  land- 
locked harbor  of  Sydney. 

No  wonder  that  the  I^ew  South  "Welchmen  are  proud  of 
their  harbor,  "  as  proud  as  though  they  had  scooped  it  out 
themselves,"  as  some  one  has  ill-naturedly  remarked.  It  is 
one  of  the  harbors  that  cannot  be  overpraised.  A  small  dic- 
tionary of  adjectives  might  be  emptied  upon  the  description 
and  it  would  scarcely  be  overdone. 

It  has  hundreds  of  miles  of  coast  line,  and  on  themap 
looks  like  a  great  octopus  which  has  been  flattened  out  by 
some  tremendous  kind  of  hydraulic  pressure,  whose  arms 
and  tentacles  run  far  up  into  the  country,  affording  number- 
less beautiful  bays  and  lovely  retreats,  which,  in  many 
places,  are  as  wild  and  rugged  as  when  Capt.  Cook  first 
sailed  by  the  narrow  entrance ;  for  it  is  a  singular  fact  that 
this  bold  navigator,  though  he  discovered  Botany  Bay  only 
a  few  miles  distant,  entirely  passed  by  this  most  wonderful 
harbor,  so  straight  and  narrow  is  the  way  that  leads  to  it 
from  the  open  sea. 

In  fact,  the  early  navigators  all  seem  to  have  had  diffi- 
culty in  finding  this  great  continent.  One  would  think  that 
a  magnificent  stretch  of  land  which  occupies  so  large  a  por- 
tion of  the  earth's  surface  could  have  been  easily  discovered, 
especially  by  those  who  are  searching  for  it,  but  in  those 


70  SKILLFUL   PILOTING   OF   TO-DAY. 

days  in  the  little  shallops  that  were  at  the  command  of  the 
explorers,  it  was  no  easy  thing  to  discover  even  such  a  vast 
island  as  Australia. 

To-day  the  navigator  sets  sail  from  San  Francisco,  Y,000 
miles  away,  and,  precisely  on  schedule  time,  to  a  single  hour 
probably,  with  trusty  compass  and  skillful  pilot,  he  will  steer 
straight  through  the  middle  of  the  narrow  passage  that 
leads  to  the  city  of  Sydney.  But  300  years  ago,  without 
chart  or  pilot,  it  was  a  different  thing  to  feel  one's  way 
across  these  misty,  unknown  seas  at  the  mercy  of  the  uncer- 
tain sails  and  the  certain  gales  of  the  Southern  Pacific. 
Althouo'h  it  seems  that  he  could  not  have  missed  the  island 
continent  he  was  searching  for,  yet  it  is  said  that  Torres,  the 
bold  navigator,  sailed  directly  through  the  narrow  strait 
which  now  bears  his  name,  and  which  separates  Australia 
from  Xew  Guinea,  without  knowing  that  there  Avas  land  on 
either  side ;  certainly  Avithout  knowing  that  he  was  almost 
^vithin  sio:ht  of  one  of  the  mightiest  divisions  of  the  earth's 
surface.  He  missed  the  glory  by  a  hair's  breadth,  as  it  were, 
of  adding  to  his  laurels  and  perhaps  giving  his  name  to  a 
continent. 

Other  early  navigators  had  the  same  difficulty  in  finding 
this  elusive  land.  The  Dutch  in  the  Dreyfheii,  or  Dove,  a 
little  vessel  which  stretched  its  wings  and  flew  away  from 
Holland  in  the  year  1606,  first  saw  the  main  land  of  Aus- 
tralia, but  the  Dutch  had  no  use  for  it,  and  did  not  think  it 
worth  while  to  claim  possession. 

Perhaps  from  their  standpoint  of  a  home-land  half  sub- 
merged Avitli  water,  they  did  not  appreciate  such  a  high  and 
dry  continent  as  Australia  proved  to  be.  At  any  rate  they 
made  no  attempt  to  explore  or  colonize  the  land,  and  it  was 
left  to  Captain  Cook,  more  than  150  years  later,  to  make  the 
first  discovery  which  was  really  of  value  to  the  European 


THE  NOAH'S  ark  OF  THE  NATURALIST.  71 

world.  He  set  sail  in  the  little  ship  Endeavor  ;  suggestive 
name  that,  considering  the  purpose  which  has  taken  the 
writer  of  this  chronicle  to  Australia.  His  principal  purpose 
was  to  make  observations  in  regard  to  the  transit  of  Venus 
which  was  not  visible  in  the  Western  Hemisphere,  but  he 
combined  discovery  with  astronomy,  and  not  only  proved 
from  the  transit  of  Yenus  that  the  sun  was  something  more 
than  ninety  millions  of  miles  away  from  the  earth,  a  dis- 
tance which,  up  to  that  time,  had  not  been  accurately  meas- 
ured, but  also  proved  that  there  was  a  vast  unknown  land  in 
in  these  southern  seas  waiting  for  the  first  occupant  who 
might  raise  the  national  flag  and  take  possession  in  the 
name  of  modern  civilization  and  Christianity. 

Geologically,  Australia  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  oldest 
portions  of  the  earth's  surface,  and  in  its  physical  aspects 
and  natural  products  it  is  extremely  interesting  to  the  nat- 
uralist. In  fact,  it  is  a  kind  of  ISToah's  Ark  in  which  has 
been  preserved  the  animals  and  the  plants  which  long  ago 
died  out  of  Europe  and  America.  The  animals  which  in 
the  older  world  flourished  in  the  secondar}^  and  tertiary 
period,  but  which  are  now  as  extinct  as  the  Dodo  himself, 
are  still  found  in  large  numbers  in  this  land.  The  kangaroo 
and  the  wallaby  and  all  the  allied  races  of  marsupials  which 
once  were  common  in  Europe  and  America,  are  distinctive 
and  characteristic  animals  of  Australia. 

The  reason,  says  the  naturalist,  for  this  strange  survival 
of  these  great-grandfather  animals  which  long  ago  gave  up 
the  ghost  in  Europe,  is,  that  Australia  has  not  been  sub- 
jected to  such  fearful  convulsions  of  nature  as  the  rest  of  the 
Avorld.  She  has  not  been  drowned  out  by  the  flood  or 
ground  down  by  the  glacier,  or  had  all  her  animal  and  vege- 
table life  frozen  up  in  a  great  ice  age  ;  so  these  interesting 
animals  of  a  pre-historic  period  still  live  and  flourish  on  her 


72 


NATURE  HOSTILE   TO  THE  SAVAGE. 


vast  Inland  plains.  Australia,  however,  conld  never  become 
a  great  and  important  factor  in  the  world's  progress  without 
the  aid  of  civilized  men.  Her  natural  resources,  though 
great,  required  to  be  developed.  The  rainy  seasons  are 
uncertain  over  a  large  portion  of  the  continent,  and  the 
droughts  alone  can  be  relied  upon.  They  come  with  pro- 
voking regularity. 


MALE  ABOKIGrNAL,  AUSTRALIAN. 

The  savage  could  not  tickle  this  ground  with  a  hoe  and 
expect  it  to  smile  with  a  harvest.  He  could  not  plant  a 
cocoanut  tree  and  live  under  its  shade  and  on  its  nuts  all  the 
rest  of  his  days.  The  arid  soil,  the  intense  heat,  and  the 
lack  of  moisture  were  against  him,  and  as  he  could  not  cope 
with  these  natural  disadvantages  without  the  appliances  of 
civilization,  the  poor  fellow  became  a  very  abject  and 
wretched  specimen  of  a  human  being ;  not  fierce  and  strong 
like  the  North  American  Indian,  not  vigorous  and  warlike 


THE    WHITE    man's   PLOW    AND    SPADE.  73 

like  the  Zulu,  not  gay  and  careless  in  the  abundance  of  trop- 
ical bounty  like  the  South  Sea  Islander;  he  degenerated 
into  a  poor,  miserable,  abject  bushman,  who  has  already 
been,  for  the  most  part,  "  civilized  "  off  the  face  of  the  earth. 
But  poor  as  was  the  country  for  the  untutored  savage 
when  the  white  man  came  with  his  plow  and  his  spade, 
his  steam  drill  and  his  locomotive,  this  neglected  continent 


FEMALE   ABORIGINAL   AUST15ALIAN. 


became  a  new  land  and  has  yet  a  great  place  to  fill  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  Civilized  man  with  the  history  of 
the  ages  behind  him,  was  able  to  make  the  desert  blossom  as 
the  rose  ;  to  store  the  water  of  the  wet  season  for  'the  exi- 
gencies of  the  dry ;  to  find  in  the  nutritious  buffalo  grass  the 
best  fodder  in  all  the  world  for  his  sheep,  and  to  discover  in 
the  bowels  of  the  earth  the  richest  stores  of  gold  that  have 
ever  been   unearthed    since   the    days   of    King   Solomon. 


74 


PERPLEXING   TO   STRANGERS, 


Where  savages  could  not  live  the  Englishman  has  built  some 
of  the  most  magnificent  cities  on  the  surface  of  the  globe ; 
where  the  poor  bushmen  grew  thin  and  emaciated,  with 
scarcely  strength  or  spirit  left  to  spear  a  kangaroo,  the  Eng- 
lishman has  grown  stout  and  healthy,  hearty  and  happy, 
and  is  founding  a  new  nation  which  will  surely  be  in  the 
future  ages  the  greater  Britain. 

When  one  first  comes  to  Australia  many  things  strike 
him  as  being  strange  and  out  of  place,  but  he  soon  begins  to 

ask  whether  possibly  his  notions 
and  ideas  are  not  at  fault,  and 
not  the  country,  and  whether  he 
is  not  carrying  his  traditional  pre- 
judices around  with  him.  Why, 
for  instance,  should  not  the  trees 
put  forth  their  buds  and  leaves 
in  September  instead  of  in  April  ? 
It  looks  odd  enough  at  first 
when  the  traveler  reaches  Australian  shores  after  the  scorch- 
ing days  of  midsummer  and  the  early  breezes  of  fall  have 
begun  to  blow,  to  find  that  summer  is  not  behind  him  but 
before  him,  that  it  is  not  autumn,  but  spring  ;  that  the  trees, 
instead  of  doffing  their  fall  livery,  are  donning  their  spring 
dresses,  and  that  all  nature  is  waiving  up  for  a  new  year  of 
growth  and  activity. 

It  is  said  that  the  trees  that  are  transplanted  from 
Europe  or  Kortli  America,  are  themselves  very  much  con- 
fused by  this  change  in  their  surroundings ;  that  at  first 
they  niake  a  few  feeble  attempts  to  bud  forth  in  May  and 
drop  their  leaves  in  October,  but  they  soon  accept  the  Aus- 
tralian seasons  as  they  are  made  for  them. 

A  most  excellent  thing  it  is  for  a  man  of  unreasonable 
prejudices  and  provincial  proclivities,  to  take  such  a  journey 


ABOKinrNAL   METHOD   OF 
PRODUCmG  FIRE. 


AN   OVERTURNING   OF   PRECONCEIVED  IDEAS.  75 

«? 

as  this.  All  his  preconceived  notions  are  knocked  on  the 
head,  so  to  speak.  His  ideas  of  what  is  fit  and  proper  for 
Nature  to  do  are  completely  upset,  and  if  he  is  a  wise  man 
he  will  begin  to  say,  perhaps,  after  all,  wisdom  will  not  die 
with  me,  possibly  my  ancestors  did  not  know  everything 
there  was  to  be  known,  and  there  may  be  new  ways  and 
methods  which  are  not  to  be  despised  simply  because  I  was 
not  educated  in  them.  I  know  of  more  than  one  good  man 
whose  eminently  respectable  ideas  I  would  like  to  have 
turned  topsy-turvy  by  some  such  transition  from  a  northern 
to  a  southern  hemisphere  of  thought. 

But  it  must  be  confessed  that  in  other  ways  besides  turn- 
inof  the  seasons  end  to  end,  Australia  works  havoc  with  our 
preconceived  notions  of  things.  The  cherries,  for  instance, 
instead  of  covering  up  their  stones  with  a  good  layer  of  flesh, 
wear  their  hearts  upon  their  sleeves,  so  to  speak,  or  at  least, 
bear  their  pits  upon  the  outside,  instead  of  beneath  the  skin, 
as  all  well-regulated  cherries  are  supposed  to  do.  The 
Eucalyptus  trees,  and  some  other  varieties,  instead  of  shed- 
ding their  leaves,  have  a  strange  fashion  of  shedding  their 
bark,  and  one  sees  great  forests  of  them  standing  bare  and 
gaunt,  with  the  bark  falling  off  in  shreds  and  ribbons  while 
they  stretch  their  white  arms  heavenward,  but  their  tops  are 
always  covered  with  a  dull  green  leaf  which  they  never  part 
with  under  any  circumstances. 

Much  of  the  Australian  wood,  instead  of  floating  as  all 
well-reo;ulated  wood  should  float  when  thrown  into  the 
water,  sinks  to  the  bottom.  Many  of  the  flowers  cover  the 
outside  of  their  petals  with  bright  colors  instead  of  the  in- 
side, as  modest  English  flowers  almost  always  do,  and  there 
are  various  anomalies  of  this  sort,  which,  however,  are  only 
anomalies,  I  suppose,  because  of  our  imperfect  and  narrow 
vision.    I  did  not  hear  that  water  ran  up  hill  in  Australia,  or 


''G  THE   AGGRESSIVE   ANGLO-SAXON. 

tliat  rain  was  dry  and  snow  hot,  but  I  should  scarcely  have 
been  surprised  to  learn  of  such  discrepancies  before  I  went 
awav. 

After  all,  civilized  human  nature  is  very  much  the  same, 
however  natural  products  and  inanimate  nature  differs  in 
different  parts  of  the  world.     Love  and  hate,  joy  and  sor- 
row, fear  and  hope,   I  find,  are  exactly  the  same  at  the 
Antipodes  as  in  the  countries  with  which  I  am  familiar. 
Human  nature  does  not  differ  in  its  characteristics  by  beino- 
transplanted  from  one  hemisphere  to  another.    The  Eno'lish- 
man  is  very  .much  the  same  sort  of  a  creature  wherever 
he  is  found,  whether  transplanted  to  America  to  acquire  the 
alleged  "Yankee  drawl"  and  the  sharp  features  which  I 
must  say  I  think  exist  largely  in  the  humorist's  novel,  or 
whether  he  crosses  the  southern  seas  to  take  up  his  abode  in 
Australasia;  —  he  is  the   same   sort   of  a  being ^ — resolute, 
aggressive,  pushing,  fearless ;  sometimes  haughty  and  arro- 
gant in  his  treatment  of  inferior  races,  often  prejudiced  and 
unjust  in  his  judgment  of  others,  but  nevertheless  a  mighty 
and  potent  factor  in  the  world's  civilization.     Without  him 
what  would  be  the  vast  prairies  of  America,  or  the  mighty 
sea-girt  continent  of  which  I  am  writing  ?    If  ever  there  wa§ 
a  providential  race  raised  up  of  God  to  do  a  particular  work 
in  the  world  and  exert  a  mighty  civilizing  agency,  that  race 
is  the  Anglo-Saxon. 

I  feel  that  it  is  necessary  to  be  cautious  in  recording  my 
impressions  of  the  English  race  in  Australia  lest  I  lay  myself 
open  to  the  same  charges  which  I  am  temjited  to  bring 
oftentimes  against  other  hasty  travelers  who  have  skipped 
through  America  at  the  rate  of  a  mile  a  minute  and  then " 
made  up  their  minds  that  they  know  all  about  it.  My  warm 
American  blood  sometimes  boils  with  not  a  little-  indignation 
as  I  hear  our  institutions  slurred  and  our  public  men  de- 


IX   THE   VANGUARD    OF   CIVILIZATION. 


77 


famed  by  those  who  know  nothing  about  either  one  or  the 
other.  So  I  must  be  careful  not  to  raise  the  blood  of  anyone 
else  to  the  boiling  point  with  unfounded  criticisms.  Still,  as 
everyone  must  give  his  impressions,  I  would  say  that  the 
Colonies,  so  far  as  I  have  seen  them  and  talked  with  repre- 
sentative Australians,  strikes  me  as  being  in  a  period  corre- 
sponding to  the  Colonial  days  of  America  before  the  glorious 
•era  of  1776  dawned  upon  us. 

Kot  that  the  Australian  Colonies  are  100  vears  behind 


IN   THE   GROUNDS  OF   GOVERNJfENT   HOUSE,    SYDNEY. 

the  times  by  any  means.  They  are  fully  abreast  of  the  most 
recent  civilization.  All  the  appliances  and  inventions  and 
elegancies  of  civilized  life  are  found  here,  and  I  imagine  that 
a  new  invention  of  Edison,  or  a  labor-saving  contrivance  of 
McCormick,  would  be  introduced  quite  as  soon  into  these 
progressive,  go-ahead  colonies  as  they  would  in  any  part  of 
America,  and  far  more  rapidly  than  they  would  be  likely  to 
be  introduced  into  England.  The  fashions,  too,  are  as  recent, 
for  aught  I  know ;  the  store  windows  are  certainly  as  ele- 
gant, the  streets  of  such  cities  as  Melbourne  are  as  wide, 
and  the  public  buildings  as  magnificent  as  any  that  can  be 


78  VAST   DESERTS   AND   UNWATERED   PLAINS. 

found  in  all  the  world.    Yet  I  am  reminded  every  day  that  in 

some  respects  Australia  is  very  much  like  North  America 

"In  the  good  old  Colony  days 
When  we  lived  under  the  King." 

The  population  of  these  Colonies  is  very  nearly  the  same  as 
of  the  13  original  States  that  made  up  the  Union  in  1776, 
something  like  three  or  four  millions  of  people  forming  a 
fringe  of  settlement  along  the  seashore  for  thousands  of 
miles.  The  far  interior,  for  the  most  part,  is  a  terra  incog- 
nita^ waiting  for  the  hardy  pioneer  and  the  adventurous 
settler. 

When  I  was  a  boy,  and  that  is  not  so  very  many  years 
ago  after  all,  the  old  geographies  still  had  a  tract  of  land 
covering  nearly  the  whole  area  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
labeled  "  The  Great  American  Desert."  Gradually  this 
great  American  Desert  has  grown  smaller  by  degrees  and 
beautifully  less  until  it  is  now  confined  to  a  comparatively 
narrow  strip  of  outlying  plains,  which  themselves  are  not  be- 
yond hope  of  ultimate  redemption.  So  I  have  no  doubt  the 
vast  deserts  and  unwatered  plains  of  the  unexplored  interior 
of  this  mighty  land  will  one  of  these  days  yield  to  the 
prowess  of  the  pioneer  and  the  sturd}^  toil  of  the  settler  until 
all  Australia  blossoms  like  the  rose. 

In  its  political  features,  too,  the  Australasian  Colonies  are 
not  at  all  unlike  the  American  Colonies  before  the  Revolu- 
tion. Jealous  of  their  rights,  they  brook  no  interference 
from  the  Mother  Country  to  which  they  still  owe  allegiance. 
If  she  should  attempt  to  impose  a  tax  on  tea  there  would  be 
the  greatest  tea-party  in  Melbourne  Harbor  that  was  ever 
seen.  The  Boston  tea-party  would  scarcely  be  a  circum- 
stance to  this  Australian  "tea-meeting."  If  an  obstinate 
King  George  III  was  on  the  throne  instead  of  her  Gracious 
Majesty   ( "  her  Goodness-Gracious   Majesty  "  some  of  the 


AN  INDULGENT  MOTHER.  79 

Australian  papers  call  her)  Queen  Victoria,  it  would  not 
be  long,  probably,  before  these  Colonies  ^yould  set  up  house- 
keeping for  themselves,  and  cut  themselves  wholly  adrift 
from  Mother  England,  that  keeps  house  at  home.  But,  as  it 
is,  they  feel  no  pressure  of  maternal  authority. 

The  old  lady  sometimes  scolds,  to  be  sure,  and  is  some- 
times considered  indifferent  to  her  children's  welfare,  but 
she  never  attempts  to  "boss"  them  ("boss,"  by  the  way, 
is  as  good  Australian  as  it  is  American),  and  so  the  Colo- 
nies give  a  willing,  if  not  in  all  cases  a  very  enthusiastic, 
allegiance  to  the  Mother  Land. 

In  the  "  good  old  Colony  days,"  too,  of  which  we  sing,  if 
I  read  history  aright,  our  different  colonies  were  very  jeal- 
ous of  each  other  —  each  afraid  that  the  other  would  gain 
the  advantage  and  obtain  some  predominant  power. 

History  is  repeating  itself  again  in  this  Southern  world. 
Whether  the  principle  of  free  trade  or  protection  is  the  true 
one  I  have  no  occasion  to  sav  in  this  chronicle,  but  it  does 
seem  very  strange  that  the  Colonies  should  protect  them- 
selves so  zealously  one  against  another.  They  are  raising 
their  tariff  duties  higher  and  higher,  I  understand,  not  only 
against  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  but  against  their  sister 
colonies.  The  oranges  of  Kew  South  Wales  must  be  taxed 
before  they  can  come  into  Yictoria,  and  the  rugs  of  New 
Zealand  must  pay  a  heavy  duty  before  they  can  be  wrapped 
round  Australian  knees.  It  is  as  though  New  Hampshire 
should  protect  herself  against  the  dread  incursions  of  Ver- 
mont maple  sugar,  and  Vermont  should  set  up  a  barrier 
against  the  exportation  of  New  Hampshire  granite,  and 
Florida  should  object  to  Maine  ice  unless  it  was  duly  taxed, 
and  Maine  should  retort  by  putting  an  impost  on  Florida 
oranges.  However,  federation  is  in  the  air  just  as  it  was  in 
the  North  American  air  in  the  latter  part  of  the  last  cen- 
tury. 


80  A   PROPHECY   OF   FEDERATION. 

There  is  federation  already  in  sentiment  and  purpose 
against  the  aggression  of  all  the  rest  of  the  Avorld.  There  is 
federation  of  Christian  sentiment  and  religious  purpose,  and, 
doubtless,  before  the  19th  century  comes  to  a  close  there  will 
be  political  federation,  just  as  the  close  of  the  18th  century 
marks  the  political  federation  which  has  ever  since  been 
growing  stronger  and  stronger  between  the  states  of  the 
American  Union. 

Another  impression  which  I  have  received  is  that  Aus- 
tralia is  a  mixture  in  about  equal  proportions  of  British 
conservatism  and  American  aggressiveness,  a  splendid  mix- 
ture that,  since  both  qualities  are  needed  to  make  up  the 
ideal  race,  and  either  alone,  though  admirable  in  itself,  can 
be  carried  too  far.  Svdnev  is  said  to  be  verv  Eno^lish,  Mel- 
bourne  very  American,  and  I  think  there  is  some  reason  for 
this  distinction,  which  the  Australians  often  comment  upon 
themselves.  Sydney  was  settled  100  years  ago,  and  its  nar- 
row streets  and  crooked  lanes  remind  me  of  the  picturesque 
city  which,  like  all  loyal  Bostonians,  I  regard,  of  course,  as 
the  "  hub  "  of  the  Universe. 

Melbourne,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  modern  city  built 
within  the  last  50  years,  and  its  wide  streets  and  elegant 
boulevards,  its  magnificent  public  buildings,  and  extensive 
stores,  would  lead  one  who  was  set  down  in  it  with  his  eyes 
blindfolded  to  imagine  he  was  in  any  one  of  half  a  dozen  of 
our  most  wide-awake  western  cities.  To  be  sure  he  would 
find  it  rather  cleaner  than  most  of  them,  and  with  no  dense 
pall  of  smoke  hiding  its  beauties.  He  would  heave  a  sigh 
and  wish  that  our  streets  might  be  as  well  paved  and  kept 
as  clean,  but,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  minor  matters  of 
this  sort,  he  would  be  eminently  at  home  in  the  beautiful 
city  of  Melbourne. 

In  Sydney  almost  every  house  has  its  balcony,  and  this 


JOHN   BULL   versus   BROTHER   JONATHAN,  81 

is  also  a  common  method  of  architecture  in  Melbourne. 
Houses  in  Australia  are  built  for  hot  weather  (throughout 
the  largest  part  of  the  American  continent  they  are  built  for 
cold  weather)  hence  the  slight  differences  of  architecture 
which  we  notice. 

There  are,  indeed,  very  many  things  that  remind  me  of 
the  old  country,  but  these  are  all  balanced  by  Americanisms 
which  appear  at  every  corner. 

For  instance,  I  have  more  than  once  seen  the  sign 
"Mano-ling:  done  here,"  which  alwavs  reminded  me  of  the 
unfortunate  Mr.  Mantalini.  AVe  should  call  the  establish- 
ment a  laundry,  I  suppose.  The  druggists  are  almost  all 
"chemists,"  and  they  have  no  extravagant  marble  fountain 
with  forty-two  different  kinds  of  American  drinks  issuing 
therefrom,  in  the  front  part  of  their  stores.  "Beef  and 
ham"  shops  1  have  often  seen,  but  why  a  man  who  sells 
ham  should  not  also  sell  lamb  or  other  butcher's  meat  I  can- 
not quite  determine. 

The  street  cars  are  all  "trams."  The  elevators  are  all 
"lifts,"  and  the  railway  cars  are  all  "coaches."  "Why  is  it 
that  you  Americans  always  give  such  a  big  name  to  every- 
thing: ,"  said  an  Australian  gentleman  to  me  the  other  dav. 
"Why  do  you  call  a  lift  an  'elevator,'  and  why  is  your 
'classroom'  a  'recitation  hall'  and  whv  is  vour  barber's 
shop  usually  a  'tonsorial  palace'?"  I  am  still  pondering 
these  questions,  and  have  not  arrived  as  yet  at  any  satisfac- 
tory answer. 

But,  if  there  is  much  that  is  English  there  is  also  as 
much  that  is  distinctively  American  about  these  colonies. 
Upon  a  dozen  articles  of  common  use  I  have  seen  the  name 
"Salem,  Mass.,"  or  "Springfield,  Mass.,"  or  "Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania,"  or  "Chicago,  Illinois."  American  books, 
American  watches   and   typewriters,  American   lamps  an(] 


82  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS  —  "AMERICAN  BARS." 

bicycles,  American  incandescent  lights  and  telephones,  and 
alas!  man}"  "American  bars"  from  which,  as  the  signs  tell 
us,  American  drinks  are  dispensed,  are  to  be  seen  every- 
where. I  am  not  at  all  proud  of  this  last  Americanism,  but 
in  many  of  the  Continental  cities  of  Europe  the  American 
bar  is  the  only  American  thing  that  you  will  see  in  all  the 
city. 

On  the  railway  between  Sydney  and  Melbourne,  Pull- 
man cars  of  the  verv  best  construction  are  used,  and  on  the 
Melbourne  streets  the  swift  cable  cars  which  I  think  must 
have  been  made  in  Troy,  Xew  York,  give  one  the  impression 
that  he  cannot  be  far  from  Kansas  City,  or  Omaha,  or  San 
Francisco.  In  one  very  important  way,  however,  the  Aus- 
tralian colonies  differ  from  our  early  American  colonies,  and 
that  is  in  the  predominance  of  the  city  life  over  the  country 
life.  I  should  think  that  fully  50  per  cent,  of  the  people  of 
Australia  live  to-day  in  the  cities,  large  or  small ;  nearly 
one-half  of  the  inhabitants  of  Yictoria  are  gathered  together 
along  the  beautiful  streets  of  Melbourne.  So  in  New  South 
Wales,  Sydney  absorbs  a  large  proportion  of  the  population, 
while  in  South  Australia,  Adelaide  is  not  only  the  capital 
and  metropolis,  but  the  one  center  for  a  vast  territory. 

The  rural  population  of  America  is  in  some  sections 
sadly  on  the  wane.  The  great  cities  are  great  magnets 
everywhere  which  draw  the  people  from  the  country  to 
themselves.  Until  the  poles  of  this  magnet  can  be  reversed 
in  some  way,  both  in  Australia  and  America,  and  the  people 
find  that  their  happiness  is  not  in  the  crowded  streets  of  an 
overpopulated  city,  but  amid  the  peace  and  plenty  of  coun- 
try life,  a  great  danger  will  always  menace  these  two  great 
continents.  Discontent,  anarchy,  and  revolution,  with  all 
their  hideous  evils,  are  breathed  in  the  great  cities  ;  the  fresh 
countrv  winds  blow  the  cobwebs  out  of  the  brain,  and  dis- 


FREE  AND   HAPPT  COUNTRY   LIFE. 


83 


content  out  of  the  heart.  Until  both  Australia  and  America 
become  tilled  with  small  landholders,  each  cultivating  his 
own  little  piece  of  God's  earth,  the  problems  of  their  fu- 
ture destiny  will  not  all  be  solved. 

But,  predominant  as  city  life  is  in  Australia,  the  influ- 


IN   THE   BUSH. 


ence  of  the  early  settler,  the  squatter,  and  the  bush  man  is 
still  felt.  Most  of  the  distinctive  Australian  slang  which  I 
have  heard  can  be  traced  back  to  these  sources  —  thus  the 
"  billabong"  is  the  backwater  of  a  river;  the  "  lagoon,"  we 
should  call  it  at  home.  The  "  bluey  "  is  the  blanket  of  the 
frontiersman  in  which  he  wraps  himself  at  night  and  lies 
down  to  sleep  wherever  he  may  be,  under  the  silent  stars. 


84 


AUSTRALIAN   SLANG. 


The  ''  billy  "  is  the  can  in  which  he  cooks  first  his  tea  and 
.then  his  meat.  We  may  be  sure  he  relishes  them  both  be- 
cause of  the  splendid  appetite  sauce  which  was  always  upon 
his  table.  These  terms  have  now  degenerated  to  denote  the 
properties  of  the  tramp,  and  the  bundle  which  he  carries 
upon  his  back  is  his  "  swag."  The  "  larriliin  "  is  the  street 
loafer,  and  a  very  unpleasant  type  of  street  loafer  he  is,  too, 
as  developed  in  these  colonies  I,  myself,  am  a  "  new 
chum,"  as  every  new  arrival  is  styled  in  Australian  dialect ; 
and,  until  I  had  been  here  at  least  live  years,  I  could  be 
only  a  "•  new  chum,"  corresponding  to  the  "  tenderfoot"  of 
our  mining  camps.  It  is  surely  becoming  that  a  new  chum 
should  be  careful  in  his  commendations  and  modest  in  his 
criticisms.  Perhaps  it  is  high  time,  therefore,  that  I  should 
bring  this  chaj^ter  to  an  end,  before  I  commit  the  usual  indis- 
cretion of  a  literary  "  new  chum  "  in  a  strange  land. 


CHAPTER  lY. 


AUSTRALIA  AND  AUSTRALIANS  — LITTLE  MATTERS  ABOUT 

A  GREAT  COUNTRY. 

The  Houses  the  People  Live  in  —  Stone  Instead  of  AYood  —  An  English- 
man's Castle  — Plenty  of  Soil  —  "  Strathroy  "  versus  "1239  E.  341  St." 
—  "Bacchus,  Cestus,  Festus"  —  How  They  Travel  —  The  Railways  — 
Inside  the  House  —  At  the  Dinner  Table  —  A  Pleasant  Custom  — 
Scarcity  of  Cold  Water  —  The  Newspapers — Sometimes  Dull  but 
Seldom  Sensational  —  Some  Budding  Poets  —  Specimen  of  Obituary 
Poetry  —  Outdoor  Life  —  National  Games  —  A  Mighty  Curse  —  The 
Turf  Adviser — The  Totalisator  —  Church  Life  —  Great  Conventions  — 
The  Singing  —  Cable  Absurdities  —  A  3Iexican  Invasion  —  Kissing  his 
Wife  on  the  Street — Gum-chewing  Girls  —  Chicago  Girls  and  Boston 
Maidens  —  Introducing  Friends. 

OME  of  the  little  things  that  seem 
to  me  to  be  characteristic  of 
Australian  life  may  seem  hardly 
worth  mentioning  in  serious  con- 
verse, and  yet  it  is  these  little 
matters  that  differentiate  our 
Australian  cousins  from  their 
American  relatives. 

In  other   lands  it  is  easy  to 

paint    the    picture    with    broad 

touches   of  the   brush,  but   in   a 

country  so  much   like   our  own, 

and  among  a  people  who,  so  far  as  all  outward  characteristics 

go,  live  across  the  street,  instead  of  across  the  Pacific  ocean, 

we  find  peculiarities  and  differences  only  in  minute  things. 

The  house  in  which  the  Australian  lives,  for  instance, 

6  (85) 


80  COMFORT   IN   SECLUSION. 

though  a  most  comfortable  one,  and  often  an  elegant  man- 
sion, is  different  in  some  slight  particulars  from  that  in 
Avhich  his  American  relative  would  take  up  his  abode.  It  is 
almost  invariably  built  of  stone  or  brick,  even  in  the  coun- 
try, instead  of  wood ;  the  reason  being,  I  suppose,  that 
timber  is  scarce  and  high,  comparatively  speaking,  and  the 
native  woods  do  not  easily  lend  themselves  to  the  house- 
builder's  art. 

At  any  rate,  one  sees  very  few  modern  houses  of  the 
style  which  make  our  suburban  cities  and  country  villages 
so  bright  and  attractive,  with  their  many  colors  and  their 
varied  styles  of  architecture. 

Many  of  the  houses  here,  even  of  the  better  class,  are  one- 
story  buildings,  with  bedrooms  as  well  as  parlors  and  din- 
ing-rooms on  the  ground  floor,  but  they  are  high  and  com- 
modious apartments  and  doubtless  have  some  advantages  in 
this  hot  climate  over  the  many-storied  structures  with,  which 
we  are  acquainted.  Moreover,  for  every  Australian  his 
house  is  his  castle,  and  in  this  matter  he  shows  his  English 
breeding  and  training.  He  shuts  himself  in  from  all  the 
world  with  high  hedges  and  fences.  The  crusade  for  the 
abolishment  of  fences  and  hedges,  with  which  we  are  so 
familiar,  would  meet  with  no  favor  in  this  land. 

So  it  comes  about  that  the  streets  of  the  suburban  towns 
have  a  more  forbidding  and  unsocial  aspect  than  our  streets 
at  home.  There  is  none  of  the  park-like  effect  which  is 
given  to  a  beautiful  suburban  town,  by  removing  all  fences 
and  obstacles  to  the  view,  and  allowing  the  premises  of  ad- 
joining neighbors  to  come  together  with  only  an  imaginary 
line  between  them.  But  after  all  when  you  once  get  behind 
an  Australian's  fence  or  an  Englishman's  hedge,  there  is  a  joy 
in  the  sense  of  seclusion  and  quiet  retirement  which  one  can 
nardly  experience  in  the  open  thoroughfare  of  an  American 


SPACE   ENOUGH   AND   TO   SPARE. 


87 


town.  You  find,  too,  that  what  you  took  for  exclusiveness 
is  only  a  national  reserve  and  that  the  warmest  kind  of  hos- 
pitality is  extended  to  those  who  get  behind  these  forbidding 
fences. 

The  Australian  believes  in  having  plenty  of  land  about 
him,  and  why  shouldn't  he  ?  If  there  is  one  thing  of  which 
there  is  enough  in  this  great  continent,  it  is  Mother  Earth. 
Only  a  little  fringe  of  her  soil  here  as  yet  has  been  subdued. 
'No  wonder  that  the  Australian  householder  chooses  to  have 


IN   ADELAIDE. 


a  good  generous  quota  for  his  house-lot  and  garden.  The 
result  is  that  these  cities  spread  out  enormously,  and  Wash- 
ington must  yield  the  palm  of  being  considered  "  the  city  of 
magnificent  distances"  to  Melbourne  and  Sydney  and  Ad- 
elaide and  Ballarat.  In  Melbourne,  for  instance,  there  seems 
to  be  no  residential  portion  of  the  city  for  the  better  classes 
within  less  than  three  or  four  miles  from  Collins  street,  and 
thousands  of  the  business  men  live  half  a  score  of  miles  or 
more  away  from  their  offices. 

When  we  get  to  their  houses  we  find  that  each  one  has  a 
distinctive  individuality  of  its  own,  which  is  ver\^  pleasing  to 
one  accustomed  to  residences  known  only  by  an  unsympa- 


88  DISTINCTIVE   NAMES. 

thetic  number.  For  instance,  it  is  much  more  pleasing,  in 
my  estimation,  to  live  at  "■  Strathroy,"  or  "St.  Kilda,"  or 
"Haroldine,"  than  to  have  your  abode  at  "1229  East  31st 
street."  How  can  children  ever  have  an  affection  for  "  No. 
627"?  How  can  the  household  gods  ever  be  permanently 
set  up  on  a  six-story  flat  in  "429^  A,  79th  Avenue"? 

But  to  have  a  home  of  your  own  with  its  distinctive 
name  which  is  appropriated  by  no  one  else !  Ah !  there  is 
a  sensation  of  homeliness  comes  over  one  when  we  but  see 
the  name  upon  the  gate  post ! 

However,  some  of  these  names,  I  must  say,  strike  me  as 
peculiar.  In  order  to  get  a  different  home  designation  from 
any  one  else,  children's  names  are  sometimes  used,  and  I 
have  seen  "  Emma  House "  and  "  Alice  Terrace "  and 
"Maudina"  and  "  Susana."  One  row  of  houses  which  I 
have  seen  was  named  "Voltaire,"  "  Rousseau,"  and  "  Eenan." 
How  any  builder  could  hope  to  let  such  houses  to  a  Chris- 
tian, I  do  not  understand. 

Still  another  terrace  of  houses  I  have  seen  labeled 
"Bacchus,"  "Cestus, "  and  "Festus."  With  all  my  love 
for  individuality  and  for  distinctive  names,  I  must  say  I 
think  that  this  is  a  little  overdoing  it.  I  should  always  feel 
ashamed  to  live  in  a  house  that  bore  the  name  of  the  old 
inebriate  "  Bacclius  " ;  and  as  for  dating  my  letters  from 
"  Festus,"  I  would  pay  a  largely  increased  rent  rather  than 
submit  to  any  such  indignity. 

I  have  found  the  modes  of  roadwa}^  traveling  in  Aus- 
tralia much  like  tliose  to  which  we  are  accustomed,  with  the 
exception  that  our  friends  here  very  much  affect  a  certain 
species  of  English  trap  which  I  have  never  seen  at  home,  in 
which  the  driver  has  the  best  seat  of  all,  and  the  people 
whom  he  drives,  if  there  is  more  than  one,  get  along  as  best 
they  can  on  a  kind  of  perch  with  their  backs  to  the  horses, 


A   WELL   MANAGED   RAILWAY    SYSTEM.  89 

while  tliey  are  careful  to  avoid  the  driver's  reins  which  are 
always  in  close  proximity  to  their  ears.  However,  this  trap 
has  the  advantage  of  being  roomy  and  easy  to  enter,  and  for 
father  and  mother  and  a  small  family  of  children  is  just  the 
thing. 

The  railroads  seem  to  me  well  managed  and  well 
equipped.  The  road  beds  are  splendidly  ballasted,  the  sta- 
tions are  substantial  though  not  elegant,  and  everything 
about  the  rolling  stock  is  on  a  par  with  our  first-class  Amer- 
ican roads. 

To  be  sure  they  cling  to  the  old,  exclusive,  English  com- 
partment system  for  the  most  part,  but  the  cars  are  well 
upholstered,  and  nearly  all  who  can  afford  it  seem  to  ride 
first-class,  whereas  in  England  it  is  a  common  saying  that 
only  lords,  fools,  and  Americans  ever  patronize  the  first-class 
railway  carriage.  I  have  seen  no  third-class  cars,  and  the 
second-class  are  very  comfortable,  though  far  outnumbered 
by  the  first-class  compartments. 

On  some  of  the  roads  Pullman  cars  are  in  constant  use. 
On  others,  Mann  boudoir  cars  are  preferred.  Grade  cross- 
ings are  abolished  as  far  as  possible,  and  more  care  is  taken 
of  life  and  limb  than  on  our  average  railway  lines.  Here 
one  steps  immediately  from  the  platform  into  the  car,  in- 
stead of  going  up  two  or  three  steps  as  in  our  cars,  and  a 
bell  about  the  size  of  a  dinner  bell,  vigorously  rung, 
announces  the  hour  of  departure. 

To  show  how  much  custom  has  to  do  with  our  views  of 
the  fitness  of  things,  I  Avas  amused  to  hear  an  Australian 
friend,  who  had  been  traveling  in  America,  say  that  it 
seemed  strange  to  her  to  climb  a  short  flight  of  stairs  before 
getting  into  our  cars,  and  that  it  seemed  preposterous  for 
the  engineer  to  ring  a  bell  as  big  as  a  church  bell  whenever 
the  train  started.     Well,  I  had  always  regarded  the  three 


90  FOUR   MEALS   A   DAY. 

or  four  steps  as  the  most  natural  means  of  getting  into  a 
railway  car  myself,  and  as  for  the  church-bell  to  which  she 
alluded,  I  had  never  regarded  it  in  that  preposterous  light. 
But  I  thought  I  would  be  careful  after  hearing  her  remark 
about  saying  anything  about  the  Australian  railway  dinner 
bell,  or  any  other  little  peculiarities  which  struck  me  as 
oddities. 

We  have  found  now  our  Australian  home  and  the  means 
of  locomotion  by  which  we  reach  it.  As  Ave  enter  the  aver- 
age home  of  the  well-to-do,  we  find  a  large  and  commodious 
parlor,  a  well-stocked  library,  a  dining-room  and  a  breakfast 
room,  which  in  the  season  (and  almost  every  season  in  Aus- 
tralia is  the  season  of  flowers)  are  gay  with  blossoms  from 
the  abundant  garden. 

The  dining-room  alwavs  interests  the  hungry  traveler,  so 
we  will  enter  it.  A  beautiful  fashion,  which  I  have  never 
seen  practiced  to  the  same  extent  elsewhere,  is  that  of  deco- 
rating the  table,  for  it  is  typical  of  the  Australian  as  of  the 
Englishman  that  he  makes  a  good  deal  more  of  the  dining 
table  than  is  usually  done  by  the  average  American  famil}^ 

He  indulges  in  four  meals  instead  of  three,  though  the 
late  supper  at  night  is  often  a  very  informal  affair,  and  he 
frequently  finds  room  for  a  cup  of  tea  between  meals.  As 
for  getting  along  on  two  meals  a  day,  as  some  of  our  more 
aesthetic  'New  Englanders  are  accustomed  to  do,  he  would 
spurn  the  idea.  The  center  of  the  table  is  beautifully  deco- 
rated with  bright  velvet  or  brilliant  cloths  of  other  kinds, 
and  is  gay  "^ath  flowers,  and  often  in  the  evening  with  fairy 
lamps,  which  add  to  the  brilliant  effect.  The  average  Aus- 
tralian does  not  indulge  in  so  many  hot  biscuits,  porterhouse 
steaks,  buckwheat  cakes,  etc.,  as  his  friends  across  the  sea, 
but  his  table  is  always  abundant!}^  and  often  lavishly  spread 
with  cold  meats,  bread  of  different  kinds,  pastries  and  pud- 


GINGER  ALE   OR  ICE  WATER.  01 

dings,  and  "  sweets  "  under  which  generic  term  are  grouped 
marmalade  and  jam,  jellies  and  syrups  of  various  kinds. 

Of  course  the  teapot  is  there,  occasionally  the  coffeepot, 
very  often  the  syphon  of  seltzer  water  and  ginger  ale,  and, 
most  rarely  of  all,  the  water  pitcher.  In  fact,  I  think  that 
some  of  my  Australian  friends  scarcely  know  the  taste  of 
unadulterated  water,  and,  as  for  ice  Avater,  I  imagine  they 
would  abominate  it  as  an  invention  of  the  arch  enemy  of 
mankind.  I  have  seen  hands  held  up  almost  in  horror  at  the 
thought  of  the  dreadful  American  practice  of  drinking  ice 
water  on  all  possible  occasions,  and  under  all  circumstances, 
and  it  seems  to  be  a  standing  w^onder  with  many,  how  any 
of  us  manage  to  survive  the  period  of  infancy  with  all  the 
various  iced  drinks  and  the  vast  amount  of  plain  water  that 
we  make  way  with. 

After  breakfast  we,  of  course,  take  up  our  morning  paper, 
and  here  it  is,  damp  from  the  press.  I  must  say,  that  to  my 
somewhat  vitiated  taste,  perhaps,  some  of  these  daily  papers 
seem  extremely  dull,  but  I  am  inclined  to  charge  this  im- 
pression to  two  facts.  In  the  first  place,  they  contain  almost 
no  American  news,  unless,  possibly,  John  L.  Sullivan,  or 
some  such  slugger,  happens  to  have  received  an  unmerciful 
pounding  (in  which  result  w^e  all  devoutly  rejoice).  In  the 
second  place,  a  stranger  never  knows  where  to  look  for  what 
he  wants  in  an  unaccustomed  newspaper,  so,  though  it  may 
contain  many  morsels  which  he  would  be  glad  to  read,  he  is 
apt  to  throw  it  aside  impatiently  with  the  reflection  that  it 
is  dull  and  stupid. 

But  if  this  charge  can  be  preferred  with  some  force, 
there  is  something  far  worse  than  dullness,  and  that  is  the 
outrageous  sensationalism  which  disgraces  many  of  our  own 
papers.  These  papers  are  at  least  dignified,  and,  for  the 
most  part,  high  in  their  moral  tone.     Some  of  the  afternoon 


93  DULL  BUT   DIGNIFIED. 

journals,  to  be  sure,  are  imitating  a  bad  American  example, 
and  deal  in  "  scare  heads  "  and  "  penny -dreadful "  stories, 
but  the  leading  papers  are  all  comparatively  clean,  if  not 
aggressively  on  the  side  of  religion  and  morals. 

The  Melbourne  papers  pay  exceedingly  little  attention  to 
religious  matters,  and  seem  to  ape  the  "  London  Times  "  in 
the  silent  contempt  that  they  visit  upon  anything  or  any- 
body that  is  not  patronized  by  an  earl  or  a  lord  at  the  very 
least.  Their  snobbishness  is  often  spoken  of  by  the  people 
of  Melbourne  themselves,  and  it  is  not  shared,  I  am  glad  to 
say,  to  any  extent  by  the  leading  papers  of  Adelaide  or  Syd- 
ney. These  are  quite  as  good  as  newspapers,  and  far  better 
as  moral  agencies  in  supporting  and  advancing  the  great 
religious  movements  of  the  day. 

In  addition  to  the  column  of  births,  marriages,  and 
deaths,  a  "  memorial "  column  is  published  in  many  of  the 
papers,  and  anybody  can  get  his  funereal  lucubrations  pub- 
lished at  so  much  a  line.  I  do  not  know  but  this  is  wise 
forethought  on  the  part  of  the  newspaper  publishers.  If 
their  subscribers  work  off  their  poetic  afflatus  in  some  dog- 
gerel verses  concerning  a  deceased  relative,  they  are  not  so 
likely  to  deluge  the  editorial  sanctum  with  poems  on 
*'  Spring,"  "  Love,"  and  such  threadbare  subjects.  I  think 
some  publisher  could  make  his  fortune  by  collecting  the 
choicest  of  these  verses  under  the  title,  "  Funereal  Poetry 
AS  She  is  Composed."  Here  is  one  that  I  have  found,  and  it 
is  quite  equal  to  the  average,  neither  better  nor  worse.  I 
commend  the  use  of  the  verb  in  the  last  line  to  all  our  bud- 
ding poets. 

"  Farewell,  Mother  ;  we  did  not  know  thy  worth, 
But  thou  art  gone,  and  now  'tis  prized, 
Thus  angels  walked  unknown  on  earth, 
But  when  they  flew  were  recognized." 


OUTDOOR   LIFE.  93 

Another  one,  for  which  a  friend  of  mine  vouches,  read  as 

follows : 

"  I  heard  that  my  Mother  had  met  with  a  sprain, 
I  left  Ballarat  by  the  4.50  train, 
At  Melbourne  a  cab  took  me  quick  to  her  side, 
But  when  I  got  there,  alas,  she  had  died  ! " 

My  friend  suggests  that  no  wonder  the  good  lady  departed 
this  life  before  the  arrival  of  a  daughter  who  could  perpe- 
trate such  verse. 

After  the  breakfast  and  the  paper  have  been  disposed  of, 
we  will  go  out  to  see  something  of  the  national  life,  for 
there  is  a  vast  amount  of  outdoor  life  in  Australia ;  too 
much,  I  am  told  by  those  who  know  it  best,  for  the  young 
men  and  women,  in  consequence,  often  spend  too  little  time 
at  home.  The  fine  climate  makes  very  much  of  outdoor  life 
possible  and  delightful ;  and  athletic  sports  have  been 
carried  to  an  extent  that  is  not  known  in  America  or  in 
England.  This  devotion  to  athleticism  will,  doubtless,  pro- 
duce a  fine  race  of  men  physically.  May  this  development 
not  be  gained  at  the  expense  of  moral  qualities  which  are 
vastly  more  important. 

As  baseball  is  the  national  game  in  America,  so  football 
is  the  great  national  game  of  Australia.  To  be  sure,  cricket 
is  played  and  famous  elevens  have  beaten  the  best  English 
cricketers.  Australian  oarsmen  are  renowned  throughout 
the  world,  but  football  is  the  national  game^ar  excellence. 

The  betting  on  these  games,  and  especially  the  gambling 
on  the  horse  races,  are  the  worst  features  of  outdoor  life  in 
Australia.  It  seems  to  me  that  I  never  saw  the  gambling 
spirit  so  rampant,  even  in  England  itself,  as  it  is  here.  It 
certainly  has  not  taken  hold  of  thfe  better  classes  in  America 
as  here.  In  some  quarters  there  seems  to  be  very  little 
conscience  about  the  matter.     The  races  are  patronized  by 


94  THE   CURSE   OF   AUSTRALIAN    YOUTH. 

the  governor-generals  and  the  leading  men  in  political  life^ 
and  the  protests  which  are  raised  by  Christian  people  are 
sneered  at  by  many  of  the  papers  as  the  feeble  attempt  of 
"  sniveling  parsons."  A  premier  of  one  of  the  leading  col- 
onies, himself  not  averse,  as  I  found  upon  the  steamer,  to  a 
chance  in  the  "  Calcutta  Sweep,"  assures  me  that  the  spirit 
of  gambling  is  the  awful  and  growing  curse  of  Australian 
youth.  This  testimon}^  certainly,  is  not  from  an  undul}^ 
prejudiced  source. 

'Not  only  do  the  wealthy  classes  and  the  bookmakers  bet, 
but  the  clerks  and  schoolboys  and  the  ragged  little  boot- 
blacks themselves  invest  a  shilling  in  the  sweep.  Immense 
prizes,  sometimes  as  high  as  $50,000  each,  tempt  the  cupidity 
of  rich  and  poor  alike.  In  fact,  these  horse-races  are  simply 
huge  Louisiana  lotteries  legalized,  and  established  in  all  the 
colonies,  which  must  debauch  the  youth  by  the  wholesale  if 
they  are  allowed  longer  to  exist. 

I  have  seen  a  sign  over  a  very  respectable  looking  house 
in  Melbourne  which  read  "Turf  Adviser."  It  was  not,  as 
the  uninitiated  might  suppose,  a  landscape  gardener's  office, 
or  the  establishment  of  one  who  gave  instruction  in  regard 
to  a  model  lawn,  but  of  one  who  professed  to  have  some 
special  knowledge  in  regard  to  the  races,  and  gave  the 
unwary  a  supposed  "tip"  as  to  the  winning  horse.  Such 
establishments,  under  one  name  or  another,  are  very  com- 
mon, and  even  in  times  of  depression  and  suffering  the  horse 
races  and  the  bookmakers  are  the  last  to  feel  the  pinch. 
Every  little  town  has  its  own  races  and  its  own  betting 
establishments,  and  the  work  of  the  Devil  goes  on  in  hun- 
dreds of  different  places  at  the  same  time. 

A  verv  long;  Australian  word,  and  one  which  for 
some  time  I  could  not  understand  the  meaning  of,  is  "total- 
isator."     The  papers  are  full  of  arguments  for  and  against 


VIGOROUS   LIFE   IN   THE  CHURCHES.  95 

the  "  totalisator."  The  ministers  denounce  it  from  the 
pulpits,  and  the  religious  jiress  score  it  in  their  columns,  for 
it  is  simply  a  legalization  of  gambling,  in  which  the  govern- 
ment steps  in  and  guarantees  fair  play ;  that  is,  if  there  can 
be  such  a  thing  as  "fair  play"  in  gambling.  At  least  the 
government  guarantees  that  professional  sharpers  shall  not 
"fleece"  the  immature  little  gamblers,  but* that  they  shall 
have  an  equal  chance  at  the  unrighteous  winnings  of  the 
lottery. 

But  it  is  pleasant  to  turn  from  the  horse  race  and  the 
gambling  hell  to  the  church ;  and  to  record  that  the  church 
life  of  Australia  seems  to  me  vigorous,  genuine,  and  aggres- 
sive. Nowhere  are  earnest  Christians  more  numerous ;  no- 
where are  the  churches  better  managed  or  more  liberally 
sustained.  Some  of  the  metropolitan  churches  are  immense 
establishments,  with  lecture  rooms  and  class  rooms,  large 
libraries  and  parlors,  and  offices  for  all  kinds  of  religious 
and  benevolent  enterprises.  Some  of  them  are  practically 
theological  seminaries  as  well,  where  the  minister  of  the 
church,  with  some  assistance  perhaps  from  brother  ministers, 
instructs  young  men  for  their  future  work. 

The  singing  for  the  most  part  is  magnificent.  No  thin 
warbling;  no  operatic  airs;  no  display  of  organist  and 
choir,  such  as  is  sometimes  so  painful  in  churches  on  our 
own  side  of  the  Pacific  ocean;  but  hearty,  whole-souled, 
devotional,  congregational  singing  obtains  everywhere. 

The  ministers,  for  the  most  part,  are  well-educated  and 
able  men,  eloquent  in  defense  of  the  truth,  and  outspoken 
for  all  righteousness.  Especially  in  connection  with  the 
conventions  for  the  Societv  of  Christian  Endeavor,  which 
it  was  my  happy  privilege  to  attend  during  almost  every 
day  of  my  stay  in  Australia,  was  this  devotional  spirit  most 
delightfully   prominent.      Never  have   I    seen  greater   en- 


06  A  BRIGHT  OUTLOOK. 

thusiasm  or  more  intelligent  piety ;  or  greater  throngs,  con- 
sidering the  population  to  be  drawn  upon,  or  a  more  intense 
interest  in  the  practical  phases  of  religious  life.  And  among 
all  the  happy  weeks  of  my  life  I  count  those  spent  at  the 
Australian  Christian  Endeavor  Convention  among  the 
brightest  and  best. 

I  need  not  here  repeat  the  story  of  these  delightful  gath- 
erings, which,  in  fact,  occupied  all  my  time  when  in  this 
land.  With  strong  religious  fervor  and  outspoken  devo- 
tion ;  with  the  vast  material  resources  of  the  new  continent 
to  draw  upon;  with  the  sturdy  British  character  forming 
the  basis  of  the  population,  I  cannot  help  feeling  that  the 
outlook  for  this  fair  land  materially,  morally,  and  spiritually 
is  as  bright  as  for  any  country  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth. 

There  is  no  spot  on  earth  where  democracy  is  more  ram- 
pant than  in  Australia.  With  all  the  talk  about  "home" 
(^.  e.  England)  and  all  the  sentimental  love  for  the  mother 
country,  a  very  sturdy  independence  is  cultivated,  and  a 
kind  of  individualism  which  is  said  by  those  w^ho  know  best 
to  tend  to  irreverence  and  disregard  for  authority.  Young 
Australia  is  complained  of  by  old  Australia  for  its  precocity 
and  unpleasant  development  of  beardless  mannishness,  just  as 
young  America  is  often  twitted  with  the  same  fault  by  its 
elders.  But  I  must  say  I  have  seen  little  of  this  priggish- 
ness  among  young  Australians,  and  I  have  met  many  of 
them,  and,  as  for  young  America,  I  think  it  has  often  been 
sadly  maligned  in  this  same  w^ay. 

For  the  secret  ballot  we  have  to  thank  Australia,  for  a 
simpler  way  of  registering  our  deeds,  which  it  is  hoped  will 
soon  be  universally  adopted,  and  for  other  improvements  in 
municipal  and  civil  government  which  naturally  have  origin- 
ated with  this  fresh  and  independent  people. 

On  the  other  hand,  Australia  has  adopted  many  Ameri- 


UNFAIR  REPRESENTATIONS.  97 

can  ideas,  and  is  very  ready  to  credit  every  new  invention 
and  briglit  idea  as  a  "  Yankee  notion,"  in  whatever  corner  of 
the  world  it  may  have  originated.  But  there  are  still  many 
mismiderstandings  to  be  corrected  and  many  jDrejudices  to 
be  overcome. 

There  is  a  great  need  of  a  better  understanding  between 
these  two  English-speaking  nations  on  both  sides  of  the 
Pacific  ocean.  They  have  far  more  in  common  than  most 
people  believe.  To  understand  these  common  character- 
istics, one  must  be  in  sympathetic  relations  to  each.  The 
newspapers  on  either  side  of  the  ocean  seem  to  do  their  best 
to  give  a  distorted  and  unworthy  picture  of  life  both  in 
Australia  and  America.  In  our  American  papers  how  little 
do  we  see  of  real  importance  concerning  the  Australian 
colonies  ?  '  In  the  Australian,  one  may  search  the  cable  mes- 
sages for  weeks  for  information  concerning  America  and 
find  little  besides  accounts  of  horrid  murders,  desperate 
suicides,  and  brutal  prize  fights,  with  here  and  there  a  dis- 
torted political  item  miscalled  "news." 

It  has  been  gravely  said  to  me  by  a  young  Australian, 
with  an  air  of  knowing  it  all,  that  no  decent  man  went  into 
politics  in  America.  He  had  full  means  of  knowing  what 
he  was  talking  about,  he  said,  and  he  was  assured  that  no- 
body but  scoundrels  and  "  scalliwags "  ever  ran  for  a  politi- 
cal office  in  the  States.  As  I  thought  of  our  Christian  gov- 
ernors and  congressmen,  senators  and  representatives  whom 
I  know  are  devout  men  and  supporters  of  their  churches,  I 
could  only  smile  at  his  ignorant  conceit. 

And  yet  this  young  man  doubtless  represents  many 
whose  views  of  American  life  have  been  altogether  gained 
through  the  opaque  and  distorting  medium  of  the  submarine 
cable.  One  of  the  American  consuls  in  Australia  told  me 
that  he  was  convinced  that  news  was  willfully  distorted  by 


98  ABSURDITIES   OF   MISINFORMATION. 

ft  • 

cable  managers  in  Great  Britain  for  political  effect,  to  lead 
the  colonists  to  think  that  America  is  inhabited  chiefly  by 
cut-throats  and  assassins.  This  I  cannot  believe,  however, 
though  the  kind  of  news  that  is  most  often  cabled  gives 
some  color  to  the  supposition. 

This  same  consul  told  me  that  on  one  occasion  he  saw  a 
cable  dispatch  saying  "  that  the  Mexican  Garcia  and  the 
black  rascal  Ormond,  with  a  band  of  followers,  had  invaded 
Missouri,  and  had  captured  and  sacked  the  town  of  In- 
dependence." He  could  not  believe  that  this  was  true,  since 
the  town  in  question  was  more  than  one  thousand  miles 
from  the  Mexican  border  and  the  bandits  would  have  to  go 
through  a  thickly  settled  region  to  reach  it.  However,  he 
had  no  means  of  disproving  the  assertion,  but  a  few  days 
after  came  the  news  that  the  telegraphic  cipher  had  been 
misinterpreted,  and  that  it  should  have  been  interpreted  to 
mean  that  a  certain  horse  owned  by  the  Duke  of  Westmin- 
ster and  the  black  filly  Ormond,  had  captured  all  the  sweep- 
stakes at  a  certain  race  in  England.  I  do  not  suppose  that 
the  cable  dispatches  are  often  quite  so  absurdly  mistrans- 
lated as  in  this  case,  but  it  would  be  strange  if  there  were 
not  numberless  mistakes. 

I  remember  searching  all  through  the  London  Times  on 
one  occasion,  for  news  from  my  own  country,  and  the  only 
bit  of  information  I  could  find  was  to  the  effect  that  a  man 
had  been  arrested  on  the  streets  of  Boston  for  kissing  his 
wife  in  public.  This  absurd  canard,  the  invention  of  an  idle 
reporter,  was  accepted  by  "  The  Thunderer''''  as  a  solemn 
truth,  and  constituted  the  sole  allowance  of  American  news 
for  that  day. 

Said  a  young  man  to  me,  "  I  understand  that  all  Ameri- 
can girls  are  given  to  chewing  gum,  and  that  they  go  around 
spitting  upon  the  streets  promiscuously.'-     He  could  hardly 


HIS  IDEAS   OF   AMERICAN  GIRLS. 


99 


be  convinced  when  I  told  him  that  no  American  young  lady 
I  had  ever  seen  was  guilty  of  the  latter  heinous  offense 
against  good  manners.  He  had  probably  seen  some  joke  in 
an  American  paper  about  girls  chewing  gum,  and  I  suppose 
that,  from  the  same  veracious  source  of  information,  he 
would  make  up  his  mind  that  the  Chicago  young  ladies  all 
wear  No.  14  boots ;  and  that  every  Boston  girl  is  a  spinster 
in  spectacles,  with  a  Greek  lexicon  under  one  arm  and  a 
Latin  dictionary  under  the  other.  Yery  likely  the  views 
which  our  papers  give  of  Australian  life,  whenever  they 
take  the  pains  to  give  any  (which  I  fear  is  not  very  often), 
are  equally  distorted  and  fragmentary  ;  and  if  this  chapter, 
in  regard  to  the  little  things  in  Australian  life  and  customs 
and  manners,  shall  serve  to  introduce  to  any  of  my  Ameri- 
can friends  the  country  which  I  have  come  so  highly  to 
honor  and  respect,  I  shall  be  exceedingly  glad. 


CHAPTER  y. 

AUSTRALIA  THROUGH  AMERICAN  EYES. 

An  Early  Definition  —  A  "  Personally  Conducted  "  Trip  —  A  Peaceful  Land 

—  One  of  its  Neighbors  —  Australia's  Only  Battle  —  The  Eureka  Stock- 
ade—  Unwarlike  Weapons  —  Hot,  Hotter,  Hottest  —  Summer  the  Pre- 
vailing Season  —  Ragged  and  Tattered  Trees  —  A  Eucalyptus  Country 

—  Many  "Botany  Bays"  —  Imported  Pests  —  A  Pugnacious  Little 
Briton  —  One  of  Australia's  Expensive  Problems  —  The  Gentle,  Peace- 
loving  Bear  —  The  Kangaroo  and  the  Emu  —  The  Kangaroo's  Small 
Brother  —  The  Laughing  Jackass  —  A  Land  of  Cities  —  Tales  of  Politi- 
cal Corruption  —  An  Exploded  Boom  —  Melbourne  the  Magnificent  — 
Sydney  the  Picturesque  —  Adelaide  the  Lovely  —  Ballarat  the  Golden 

—  Down  in  a  Gold  Mine  —  Getting  Ready  to  Descend  —  In  Motley 
AiTay  —  The  Cage  —  Brave  Women  —  United  We  Drop  —  Suppose!  — 
Everything  but  Gold  —  A  Brave  Miner  —  Risking  Life  for  a  Friend  — 
That  Man  was  a  Christian. 


STOEY  is  current  here  in  Aus- 
tralia that  an  American  geogra- 
phy was  once  published  which 
contained  this  extraordinary  piece 
of  information  concerning  this 
vast  continent.  "Australia  is  a 
place  to  which  England  sent  her 
convicts,  some  of  whom  have  been 
converted  and  have  become  her 
leading  citizens."  It  was  in  this 
same  geography,  doubtless,  that 
England  was  described  as  a 
"  small  island  off  the  coast  of  France." 

Absurd  as  such  a  description  seems  after  one  has  visited 
these  colonies  with  their  thriving  cities  and  bustling,  cosmo- 
politan, modern  life,  which,  for  energy  and  vigor,  is  not 

(100) 


A  COUNTRY   LITTLE   KNOWN  TO   US.  101 

surpassed  anywhere  in  the  world,  it  is  typical  of  a  vast  deal 
of  misinformation  that  prevails  on  both  sides  of  the  Pacific 
ocean  concerning  the  great  countries  on  the  opposite  shores. 
Far  too  little  of  Australia  is  known  in  America,  far  too 
little  of  America  is  known  in  Australia.  These  two  peoples 
of  a  common  stock,  a  common  language,  and  a  common 
destiny,  should  know  each  other  as  they  have  not  as  yet 
begun  to  know  each  other ;  and  if  these  notes  of  a  traveler 
in  Australia  shall  do  anything  toward  introducing  these  two 
branches  of  the  English-speaking  race  to  each  other,  the 
author  will  feel  (as  authors  are  accustomed  to  say  in  pre- 
faces) that  "  his  work  has  not  been  altogether  in  vain." 

The  area  of  Australia  is  almost  exactly  the  same  as  of 
the  United  States,  exclusive  of  Alaska,  and  about  three- 
quarters  as  large  as  Europe.  But  do  not  be  alarmed,  dear 
reader,  for  I  am  not  going  into  weary  particulars,  historical, 
geographical,  biographical,  or  ethnological.  I  am  only 
going  to  tell  you  of  those  things  which  impress  a  traveler  in 
a  journey  through  this  new  land ;  in  fact,  to  take  you  with 
me  on  a  personally  conducted  trip.  You  remember  how  this 
great  island  looks  upon  the  map.  It  is  roughly  heart- 
shaped,  but  across  the  breadth  of  this  heart  is  a  journey  of 
2,300  miles,  while  from  the  top  to  the  bottom  in  its  very 
narrowest  length  it  is  over  1,000  miles. 

It  is  not  a  country  of  vast  and  stupendous  mountains,  or 
mighty  rivers,  or  belching  volcanoes.  It  is  eminently  a 
peaceful,  quiet,  pastoral  country.  It  has,  to  be  sure,  some 
fine  mountains,  and  one  or  two  large  rivers,  and  some  mag- 
nificent scenery,  but  there  is  more  scenery  which  a  tourist 
would  seek  in  a  single  canton  in  Switzerland  than  in  this 
whole  continent  of  the  southern  seas. 

However,  if  Australia  is  not  a  Switzerland,  it  has  a. 
•  Switzerland  at  its  doors,  for  one  of  the  Australasian  colonies, 


1U2  A   WIDE   DOORWAY. 

New  Zealand,  can  boast  of  as  magnificent  mountains  and 
glaciers,  lakes  and  waterfalls  as  Switzerland,  and  precipices 
and  fiords  like  those  of  Norway .     I  have  said  that  this  Aus- 

ft/ 

tralasian  Switzerland  was  at  the  doors  of  Australia,  and  yet 
it  is  a  good  wide  doorway ;  for  1,200  miles  of  stormy  ocean 
rolls  between  these  islands.  However,  this  is  a  country  of 
magnificent  distances  and  as  New  Zealand  is  the  largest 
'  neighbor  of  Australia  we  may  be  pardoned  for  thinking 
of  her  as  a  near  neighbor. 

As  is  becoming  a  peaceful,  pastoral  country,  the  history 
of  this  land  since  civilized  man  first  came  here  to  abide  is 
far  from  warlike.  In  fact  there  is  no  nation  on  the  face  of 
the  earth  whose  history  has  been  so  little  stained  with  blood 
as  this  land.  I  visited  the  only  battle-g-round  on  Australian 
shores,  the  Eureka  Stockade,  so  called,  near  Ballarat.  This 
battle-ground  is  not  a  Waterloo  or  a  Gettysburg,  by  any 
means.  It  is  simply  the  scene  of  a  brisk  skmnish  between 
some  riotous  miners  and  the  authorities,  which  resulted  in 
few  fatalities  on  either  side.  Nevertheless  an  heroic  monu- 
ment marks  the  spot,  and  some  unwarlike  cannon,  which 
probably  could  not  be  fired,  show  their  muzzles  from  the 
historic  hillock.  Except  for  this  brief  skirmish  the  history 
of  the  country  has  been  absolutely  bloodless.  The  Austra- 
lians have  no  one  to  fight  and  no  one  to  fear.  No  nation 
would  think  of  sending  an  armed  force  to  these  shores,  and 
even  if  sent  it  would  be  routed  in  even  quicker  time  than  the 
Hessians  who  were  sent  to  conquer  the  American  colonies  a 
century  ago. 

"What  is  the  climate  of  this  country,  do  you  ask,  my  curi- 
ous reader?  Well,  you  might  as  v\"ell  ask,  "What  is  the 
climate  of  the  United  States."  You  will  have  to  come  down 
to  particulars,  and  we  shall  ask  you  whether  you  desire  to 
know  about  the  temperature  of  Texas  or  of  North  Dakota,  of- 


TALL  AND  TATTERED  TREES.  103 

Florida  or  of  Maine.  Here,  too,  there  are  all  climates  and 
all  temperatures.  South  Australia  is  hot,  New  South  Wales 
is  hotter,  Queensland  is  hottest.  Victoria  has  a  more  tem- 
perate climate  and  so  has  Tasmania,  while  some  parts  of  the 
mountainous  region  of  Xew  Zealand  are  Arctic  in  their 
temperature. 

But  take  Australia  throughout,  Ave  may  say  that  it  is  a 
sunnier  clime  and  far  more  summer-like  than  the  same  area 
of  habitable  North  America.  Summer  is  here  the  prevail- 
ing season,  and  when  it  is  not  summer  time  it  is  either  late 
in  the  spring  or  early  in  the  fall. 

The  vegetation  of  Australia  seems  to  a  stranger  to  be 
rather  meagre  and  monotonous ;  not  that  anything  will  not 
grow  which  is  planted  and  well  watered,  but  indigenous 
trees  are  largely  of  the  eucalyptus  class,  and  though  some 
of  these  are  the  tallest  trees  in  the  world,  and  magnificent 
specimens  of  treehood,  yet,  for  the  most  part,  they  are 
scrawny  and  scraggy,  and  as  they  shed  their  bark,  they 
have  a  peculiarly  ragged  and  unkempt  look,  like  street 
gamins  whose  clothes  are  hanging  in  tatters  from  their 
limbs.  The  botanists  tell  us  that  there  are  150  different 
kinds  of  eucalyptus  trees,  most  of  which  belong  to  Australia 
alone. 

But,  after  all,  these  are  splendid  trees  for  the  country, 
and  are,  like  most  other  inventions  of  Mother  Nature,  exactly 
adapted  for  the  work  which  they  have  to  do.  They  have 
very  long  tap  roots,  which  suck  up  the  moisture  from  a 
great  depth,  and  their  tough,  leathery  leaves  fit  them  pecu- 
liarly for  the  dry  climate.  But  though  the  eucalyptus  is 
more  largely  represented  in  the  native  forest  than  any  other 
tree,  yet  it  is  not  fair  to  say  that  the  vegetation  as  a  whole 
is  of  a  dull,  lifeless,  and  uninteresting  character. 

Nowhere  have  I  seen  such  gorgeous  flowers ;  no  land  can 


104 


BRILLIANT   FLOWERING   PLANTS. 


boast  more  magnificent  gardens.  Nature,  seeming  desirous 
of  compensating  the  country  for  the  usual  lack  of  variety  in 
deciduous  trees,  has  fully  made  up  for  this  loss  in  the  shrubs 
and  flowering  plants  with  which  she  has  so  plentifully  car- 
peted the  earth,  especially  during  the  spring  months,  when 
sufficient  moisture  makes  the  blossoms  possible.     "  Botany 


ABORIGINAL    AUSTRALIAN. 


Bay"  may  be  found  in  many  places  along  the  shores  of 
Australia.  The  Wasatah  is  a  most  brilliant,  showy,  red 
flower  which  grows  on  a  tall  spike,  while  another  famous 
native  of  'New  South  Wales  is  the  modest  flannel  flower,  a 
beautiful  relative  of  the  edelweiss  of  Switzerland,  which  it 
much  resembles. 

Many  of  these  brilliant  flowering  plants  are  indigenous 
and  others  have  been  imported,  such  as  the  gorgeous  golden 
gorze,  and  the  equally  golden  cape-weed,  which,  however 
beautiful  it  looks  when  the  sun  shines  upon  it  of  a  bright 


CAPE-WEED,    SPARROWS,    AND   RABBITS.  105 

spring  morning,  is  a  pest  as  utterly  detested  by  the  farmers 
as  the  white  weed  in  our  northern  meadows.  By  the  way, 
when  will  people  learn  to  experiment  less  recklessly  with 
the  products  of  other  zones  i  When  will  we  learn  the  les- 
son, that  for  the  most  part,  the  trees  and  plants  and  birds 
and  insects  which  God  has  settled  in  the  land,  are  best 
adapted  to  that  country,  and  that  we  are  running  great 
risks  when  we  try  to  naturalize  other  citizens  that  are  for- 
eign to  these  climes  ? 

Not  only  has  the  cape-weed  become  an  unutterable  nui- 
sance, but  the  English  sparrow  is  almost  as  great  a  pest  in 
Australia  as  in  our  own  country.  Why  could  we  not  have 
been  content  to  have  left  the  chattering,  mischievous,  pug- 
nacious little  bird  at  home,  instead  of  spreading  his  ravages 
through  two  great  continents.  The  gipsy  moth  seems  to  be 
a  very  harmless  insect  when  you  look  at  him  with  the  dis- 
passionate eye  of  a  naturalist,  and  yet  what  havoc  he  has 
made,  and  how  many  thousands  of  dollars  has  his  unfortu- 
nate advent  cost  the  goodly  State  of  Massachusetts ! 

Could  anything  be  more  harmless  in  appearance  than 
the  timid  rabbit,  and  yet  the  introduction  of  a  few  pair  of 
these  "  feeble  folk,"  has  cost  these  colonies  millions  of  pounds, 
and  the  end  is  not  yet.  How  to  exterminate  the  pests  the 
colonists  know  not.  They  multiply  faster  than  the  hunter's 
gun  and  the  hunter's  dog  can  extirpate  them.  A  vast  re- 
ward has  been  offered  to  anyone  who  shall  invent  a  poison 
potent  enough  to  rid  the  country  of  them,  but  the  reward 
has  never  been  earned  as  yet.  The  only  way  to  secure 
immunity  from  them  is  to  build  a  "rabbit  fence"  around 
any  particular  field,  sunk  a  foot  or  two  below  the  surface  of 
the  ground  under  which  the  rabbits  will  not  burrow.  But 
to  do  this  on  any  large  scale  is  manifestly  impossible,  and 
the  reAvard  aforementioned  still  awaits  the  inventive  Pas- 


lOG  RIDICULOUS  ANIMALS. 

teur  or  Edison,  who  may  discover  the  deadly  rabbit  extermi- 
nator. 

I  have  said  that  the  geological  and  political  history  of 
Australia  have  been  alike  of  a  peaceful  character,  marked 
by  no  great  upheavals  of  nature  or  of  man.  This  gentle 
characteristic  extends  to  the  animal  life  of  Australia  as  well, 
for  there  are  no  native  animals  of  a  fierce  and  savage  nature, 
no  lions  or  panthers,  no  wild  cats  or  grizzly  bears.  The 
kangaroo  is  the  typical  animal,  and  the  emu  is  the  typical 
bird,  and  they  are  found  one  on  either  side  of  the  Xew 
South  Wales  coat  of  arms,  while  both  are  dignified  bv  a 
place  on  her  postage  stamps  as  well.  There  is,  to  be  sure,  a 
native  bear,  called  the  koala,  but  it  is  a  mild  and  peace- 
loving  animal  that  climbs  sluggishly  about  at  night  on  trees, 
in  search  of  fruits  and  seeds. 

The  kangaroo  is  the  typical  Australian  animal,  beyond 
all  others,  and  with  his  smaller  cousin,  the  wallaby,  has 
afforded  me  no.  end  of  amusement  as  I  have  seen  them  in 
the  well-kept  zoological  gardens  of  the  country.  With  their 
puny  little  forelegs  which  seem  so  utterly  inadequate  to  the 
occasion,  and  which  as  often  as  they  stand  up  on  their  hind 
legs  droop  down  in  a  helpless,  lackadaisical  way,  they  are 
the  very  pictures  of  innocence  and  helplessness  ;  but  I  am 
told  that  a  blow  from  the  hind  leg  of  an  "  old  man  "  kanga- 
roo, or  even  a  stroke  of  its  powerful  tail  is  not  to  be  des- 
pised, and  when  angry  and  fearful  for  their  young,  they 
will  fight  in  desperate  fashion.  The  most  stupid  animal 
whose  acquaintance  it  was  ever  my  pleasure  to  make,  is  the 
wombat,  a  kind  of  dull,  listless  woodchuck,  with  a  most 
uninteresting  countenance,  who  burrows  in  the  ground  like 
his  American  cousin,  but  is  not  nearly  so  vivacious  and 
enterprising.  Among  the  birds  is  a  very  solemn-faced 
creature  called  the  laughing  jackass,  who  looks  as  though  he 


A  STUPID  AND   SARDONIC  BIRD.  107 

had  not  an  idea  in  his  head  or  a  friend  in  the  world,  as  he 
sits  perched  all  day  immovable  in  his  large  cage  in  the 
gardens.  But  I  am  told  that  when  in  his  native  haunts,  he 
is  a  different  sort  of  a  creature,  and  is  gifted  with  a  loud, 
sardonic  laugh,  which  is  very  startling  as  one  passes  his 
haunts.  For  just  as  the  traveler  has  got  by  his  habitat,  this 
ironical,  chuckling  laugh  bursts  out  as  though  some  demon 
was  rejoicing  over  the  traveler's  progress  to  the  City  of 
Destruction. 

Much  of  the  human  life  of  Australia,  aside  from  the 
Aborigines,  is  found  in  the  large  cities.  In  fact,  far  too  large 
a  proportion,  as  I  have  already  remarked,  of  our  Australian 
friends  live  in  the  cities,  and  too  small  a  proportion  for  the 
best  and  truest  prosperity  of  the  country'-  cultivate  the  soil. 
This  fact  is  acknowledged  and  mourned  over  by  thoughtful 
Australians  everywhere.  If  Paris  is  France,  much  more  is 
Melbourne  Yictoria,  and  Sydney  is  IS'ew  South  Wales,  and 
Adelaide  is  South  Australia.  In  fact,  not  far  from  50  per 
cent,  of  the  people  live  in  cities,  and  nearly  that  percentage 
of  the  whole  population  is  found  in  these  great  leading  cities 
or  their  immediate  environs. 

The  usual  tales  are  told  in  the  papers  about  political  cor- 
ruption and  incompetence  of  premier  and  councilors  and 
members  of  the  Colonial  Parliament.  I  have  learned  to  put 
very  little  confidence  in  these  newspaporial  wails  about  the 
decadence  of  legislation  and  legislators.  I  have  heard  so 
many  of  them  in  my  own  country  that  I  am  inclined  to  dis- 
count  those  that  I  read  in  any  other.  Like  the  man  who 
was  not  frightened  by  ghosts  because  he  had  seen  so  many 
of  them,  I  am  not  greatly  alarmed  when  I  see  the  opposition 
papers  telling  the  country  that  it  is  going  to  rack  and  ruin 
as  fast  as  the  other  party  can  carry  it. 

However,  there  have  doubtless  been  some  sad  revelations 


108  AN   INDOMITABLE   PEOPLE. 

of  late  in  •political  life,  and  Yictoria  especially  is  suffering 
terribly  from  an  exploded  •'  boom."  Three  years  since,  so 
the  Victorians  tell  me,  it  was  supposed  that  the  golden  gates 
of  prosperity  were  wide  open  for  all  the  colonies,  and  would 
never  be  closed,  and  that  all  that  any  one  had  to  do  was  to 
enter  in  and  help  himself  to  as  many  millions  as  he  was 
smart  enough  to  grab.  Eeal  estate  went  up  to  a  fabulous 
price,  wildcat  schemes  were  entered  into  with  a  recklessness 
worthy  of  South  Sea  Bubble  years.  Many  men  in  each 
large  city  were  supposed  to  be  veritable  descendants  of 
Croesus  and  whatever  they  touched,  it  was  thought,  Avould 
turn  to  shining  gold.  But  the  inevitable  crash  came  which 
always  follows  an  extravagant  boom,  and  for  the  last  two 
years  Yictoria  and  New  South  AVales,  especially  the  former, 
have  been  suffering  sadly  from  the  collapse. 

However,  this  depression  must  be  merel}^  temporary. 
With  the  magnificent  country  to  be  developed  behind  the 
large  cities,  with  an  indomitable  people,  and  English  pluck 
and  perseverance  to  work  upon,  there  is  no  doubt  concern- 
ing the  future  history  of  these  colonies.  As  it  is,  they 
have  made  marvelous  progress  during  the  last  forty  years, 
for  it  is  only  since  gold  was  discovered  in  1S51  that  the 
great  future  of  Australia  has  been  assured.  Within  that 
time  Melbourne  has  grown  from  an  insignificant  village 
to  a  vast  and  beautiful  city.  The  word  "■magnificent"  is 
scarcely  too  large  a  word  to  be  used  in  describing  this  me- 
tropolis. Some  of  its  streets  are  equal  to  the  best  that  can 
be  found  in  Paris  or  London,  New  York  or  Philadelphia, 
and,  take  it  throughout,  it  has  a  cleaner,  fresher,  and  more 
wholesome  appearance  than  either  of  these  cities.  Its  public 
buildings  are  massive  and  imposing,  its  stores  are  spacious,  and 
inuch  of  the  architecture  of  its  principal  thoroughfare,  Col- 
lins street,  can  scarcely  be  matched  elsewhere  in  the  world. 


A  CITY   OF   HOMES. 


109 


Sydney  is  not  so  well  laid  out  as  Melbourne,  for,  like 
Topsy.  it  ''just  growed"  instead  of  being  planned  carefully 
by  architects  and  surveyors ;  but  it  is  a  more  j^icturesque 
city  by  reason  of  its  irregularity,  and  in  most  respects  fully 
as  interesting  as  Melbourne. 

Adelaide  combines  citv  and  country  in  a  charmiuo-  way. 


IX  oxE  OP  melboukne's  parks. 


and  is  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  a  wide  park  filled  with 
beautiful  trees  and  brilliant  shrubbery.  Beyond  this  park- 
enclosed  area  are  the  suburban  cities  and  villas,  and  back  of 
all  is  a  lovely  range  of  green  hills  that  encircles  the  city 
most  lovingly  round  about.  Adelaide  seemed  to  me  pre- 
eminently a  city  of  homes,  and  the  relimous  influences  are 
strong  and  abiding. 

Another  remarkable  city  that  I  visited  is  Ballarat,  the 
center  of  the  gold-mining  industries  of  Australia ;   or  at  least 


110  *    NOT   A   TYPICAL  MINING  TOWN. 

one  of  the  centers,  for  Bendigo,  which  I  did  not  visit,  is 
equally  famous  in  its  way  as  a  golden  city. 

All  my  preconceived  notions  of  a  mining  town  were 
rudely  destroyed  by  Ballarat,  for,  instead  of  belching  chim- 
neys and  barren  hillsides,  bedraggled  streets  and  dirty 
houses,  such  as  I  have  always  associated  in  my  imagination 
with  a  mining  town,  I  found  here  one  of  the  handsomest  of 
modern  cities  with  splendid  streets,  tree-lined  and  statue- 
adorned  ;  fine  public  buildings  and  business  blocks,  and  a 
charming  residential  quarter  where  some  of  the  most  refined 
and  hospitable  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth  have  their 
homes.  But  despite  these  delightful  surroundings,  one  sees- 
at  a  glance  that  Ballarat  is  a  city  of  mines.  Huge  heaps  of 
yellow  earth,  almost  mountainous  in  their  size,  surround  the 
city  in  every  direction,  and  these  show  w^here  the  mines, 
have  been  and  in  many  cases  still  are  worked.  From  some 
of  these  fabulous  sums  of  gold  have  been  extracted,  and  the 
supply  seems  practically  inexhaustible,  for,  however  far  the 
miners  have  gone,  they  have  not  found  the  end  of  the  gold- 
bearing  quartz. 

Let  us  go  down  together,  dear  reader,  into  this  dark  hole 
in  the  ground,  for  we  will  never  have  a  better  opportunity 
to  see  a  gold  mine.  As  we  go  into  the  office  of  the  com- 
pany to  don  our  underground  costumes,  we  see  a  great  pile 
of  apparent  golden  ingots,—  plaster  representations  of  the 
gold  that  has  been  taken  out  of  this  mine  during  the  last 
three  or  four  3'ears.  These  bars  are  piled  up  under  a  glass 
case,  and  represent  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars'  worth 
of  yellow  metal  w^hich  has  come  out  of  this  one  hole  in  the 
ground. 

But  we  will  not  linger  on  the  surface,  for  here  are  the 
clothes  that  we  are  to  put  on,  a  motley  array  of  all  sorts 
and  sizes  :     battered  hats,  ragged  coats,  trousers  that  reach 


IN  PICTURESQUE   RAGS. 


Ill 


only  half  way  below  the  knee,  and  boots  hopelessly  run 
down  at  the  heels ;  but  no  matter,  for  we  are  not  going  into 
polite  society  for  the  next  few  hours. 

So  picturesque,  however,  is  our  rig,  that  we  pause  to  have 
our  photographs  taken  before  descending  into  the  bowels  of 
Mother  Earth.  Then  we  find  the  entrance  to  the  mine  and 
the  cage  waiting  to  carry  us  down.     It  is  a  pokerish  looking 


READY   FOR   THE  DESCENT   IXTO   A   GOLD   MINE. 

hole,  indeed,  and  requires  some  little  nerve  on  the  part  of 
the  ladies  of  our  party.  But  I  have  always  noticed  that  a 
genuine  woman,  though  she  may  run  from  a  snake,  and  pos- 
sible give  a  little  scream  at  the  sight  of  a  mouse,  always 
braces  up  when  her  genuine  courage  is  required.  And  first 
of  all,  the  ladies  step  upon  the  platform  of  the  cage  and 
stow  themselves  away  in  the  smallest  possible  compass,  four 
going  down  at  a  time.  A  cord  is  passed  around  them,  tying 
them  all  together,  so  that  not  only  united  they  stand,  but 
united  they  drop  down  into  the  lower  regions  which  yawn 


112  DARKNESS   THAT  MAY  BE   FELT. 

beneath  them.  The  signal  is  given  and  down  we  go.  It  is 
an  awful  plunge  into  the  depths  of  the  earth.  Light  and 
hope  we  seem  to  leave  above  us,  and  a  pitchy  blackness  that 
may  be  felt  is  all  that  seems  to  be  below  us.  However,  we 
have  not  time  for  any  very  long-continued  dismal  reflections, 
for  in  less  than  three  minutes  we  are  at  the  bottom  of  the 
shaft,  and  picking  our  way  gingerly  over  sharp  pieces  of 
quartz,  and  through  pools  of  muddy  water,  following  our 
guide  who  goes  before  us  with  his  flickering  candle  at 
which  we  have  all  lighted  our  own  torches. 

If  not  heroic,  there  is  something  picturesque  and  weird 
in  the  sight  of  a  file  of  men  and  women  stumbling  along  in 
a  narrow  passage  a  thousand  feet  below  the  surface,  lighted 
oilly  by  a  few  gleams  that  serve  to  make  the  darkness  visi- 
ble. Even  the  stoutest  hearted  cannot  help  thinking: 
"  Suppose  the  fire  damp  should  explode  !  "  "  Suppose  the 
flood  gate  should  give  way  and  pour  their  whelming  floods 
of  water  into  this  hole  while  we  are  here ! "  "  Supposing 
these  wooden  supports  that  wall  us  in  should  yield  to  the 
tremendous  pressure  above  them  and  collapse,  who  would 
carry  the  tale  of  the  imprisoned  Yankees  in  a  Ballarat  gold 
mine  ?  " 

However,  none  of  these  things  occur  or  are  very  likel}^  to 
occur,  for  the  utmost  precaution  is  taken,  and  I  imagine  that 
life  is  quite  as  safe  in  this  underground  hole  as  it  is  on 
Broadway  or  Washington  street.  After  stumbling  around 
in  the  difi'erent  passages  for  an  hour  or  two,  looking  for 
nuggets  which  never  appear,  and  searching  the  walls  dili- 
gently for  specks  of  gold  Avhich  we  can  never  see,  Ave  return 
again  to  the  shaft  that  will  take  us  up  to  air  and  sunlight, 
convinced  that  about  the  only  thing  one  cannot  find  in  a 
gold  mine  is  gold. 

Yet  all  this  innocent-looking  white  quartz  which  seems 


"heavy  to  get  and  light  to  hold."  113 

to  contain  not  even  a  scintillation  of  the  yellow  metal,  is 
charged,  with  it,  and  when  it  is  crushed,  flooded  with  water, 
and  strained  through  blankets,  and  treated  with  quicksilver 
whose  deft  fingers  pick  out  every  little  particle  of  the  pre- 
cious ore,  it  is  found  to  be  extremely  rich  in  that  commodity 
for  which  so  many  men  are  willing  to  make  slaves  of  them- 
selves all  their  lives  long. 

The  miners  themselves,  however,  get  no  extravagant 
wages;  though  they  work  in  gold  and  for  gold,  they  can 
only  daily  line  their  pockets  with  about  $2.50  worth  of  the 
metal  for  which  they  delve.  So  true  is  it  in  gold  mines  as 
in  every  other  industry,  and  every  other  effort  moral,  spirit- 
ual, and  material ;  '*  other  men  labor  and  we  are  entered 
into  their  labors." 

"  That  man  must  have  been  a  Christian,"  said  our  guide, 
as  we  were  going  up  from  the  bottom  of  the  mine  to  the 
daylight  again. 

"■  What  man? "  we  inquired. 

"Why,  the  fellow  that  saved  his  chum's  life  in  one  of  the 
mines  a  little  while  ago." 

"  Tell  us  all  about  it,"  we  said,  and  before  we  got  up  to 
daylight  we  had  time  to  hear  the  brief  and  graphic  story. 
Two  miners  were  recently  going  up  the  shaft  together  in  a 
bucket,  when  one  of  them  accidentally  fell  off.  They  were 
hurrying  up  to  get  out  of  the  way  of  four  charges  of  rend- 
rock  which  had  been  put  into  the  drilled  holes  to  blast  away 
a  portion  of  the  wall  of  the  mine.  The  fuse  had  been 
lighted,  and  these  men,  scrambling  into  the  bucket,  had 
given  the  signal  to  be  hoisted  up,  when,  as  I  said,  one  of 
them  fell  out.  Quick  as  thought  his  brave  companion  gave 
the  signal  to  lower  the  bucket  again. 

It  had  gone  some  twenty  or  thirty  feet  only,  and  the 
man  who  fell  from  it,  though  stunned  and  bruised,  was  not 


114 


A  HERO   OF  THE   MINE. 


killed.  His  companion  felt  around  in  the  awful  darkness 
for  the  charges  of  rendrock  in  order  to  pull  them  out  and 
prevent  the  explosion.  He  found  three  of  them,  but  the 
fourth  he  could  not  find  in  the  darkness  and  confusion  of  the 
moment.  He  had  but  a  few  seconds  to  work  for  the  fuse 
was  burning  toward  the  explosive  Avith  frightful  rapidity. 

Finding  that  he  could  not  lay  his  hand  upon  the  last 
charge,  he  drew  his  senseless  companion  into  a  niche  in  the 
rock,  shielded  him  as  far  as  possible  from  the  flying  frag- 
ments, and  waited  the  dreadful  moment  of  the  explosion. 
Was  ever  a  man  placed  in  a  position  of  more  awful  ex- 
pectancy ?  Did  ever  a  braver  soul  court  death  for  the  sake 
of  saving  a  fellow-man  ?  The  fearful  explosion  came.  The 
mine  was  filled  with  suffocating  fumes,  the  rocks  flew  in 
every  direction,  but,  strange  to  say,  neither  of  these  men 
were  killed.  They  were  bruised  and  cut,  and  much  shaken 
nervously,  as  can  be  imagined,  but  the  brave  deliverer  was 
able  to  crawl  to  the  bucket  again  when  the  explosion  was 
over  and  to  carry  his  wounded  friend  with  him,  and  both 
were  hoisted  into  God's  sunlight  again. 

With  all  our  hearts  we  agree  Avith  our  guide's  remark: 
"  That  man  must  have  been  a  Christian ! " 


CHAPTER  YI. 


THE  CRUISE  OF  THE  CHINGTU—K^  INTERESTING  VOYAGE 
IN  STRANGE  COMPANY  — IN  THE  GOLD  FIELDS  OF 
AUSTRALIA. 

Beginning  Our  Log-book  —  Mrs.  Pilgrim's  Resolve  —  The  Chingtu  —  A 
Unique  and  Unusual  Journey  —  Our  Steamer  —  Our  Stewards  — 
"Least  Beef,"  "  Olange  Flittels"  and  "Lice  Cakes"  —  Preparing  for 
Hot  Weather  —  Our  Fellow  Passengers  —  Life  in  the  Steerage  —  Mr. 
Ah  See  and  his  "Wives — -Mrs.  Ah  See  Number  One  —  Photographing 
the  Family  — The  Ruler  of  the  Roost  — The  Black  Fellows  — Ce- 
lestials Returning  Home  —  Taking  Home  Their  Own  Bones  —  The 
Chinaman  at  Dinner  —  A  Race  of  Squatters  —  The  Fan-tan  "Layout" 
— Chinese  Passion  for  Gambling  —  Within  the  Barrier  Reef  —  "White 
Man,  He  too  Salt"  —  Glittering  Gold  Fields  —  How  Gold  was  Discov- 
ered in  Australia —  Nash  and  His  "Find"  —  "Welcome  Strangers"  — 
Gold  on  Brogans  —  The  Romance  of  the  Morgan  Mine  —  A  Visit  from  a 
Native    Bushman — "Backy,    Backy,  Backy"  —  White    Ant    Hills. 


^0  start  fairly  with  our  log-book 
Ave  must  tell  jou  tliat  the 
Clilmjtu  sails  from  Melbourne  to 
Hong  Kong,  but  that  we  did  not 
join  her  until  she  had  plowed  her 
way  for  a  thousand  miles  along 
the    waters    of    the    Australian 

« 

coast,  and  had  reached  Brisbane, 
the  capital  of  Queensland. 

Mrs.  Pilgrim  had  declared 
that  nothing  would  induce  her  to 
go  a  mile  by  water  that  could  be 
traversed  by  land.  So  we  had  traveled  by  rail  from  Ade- 
laide to  Melbourne,  from  Melbourne  to  Sydney,  from 
Sydney  to  Brisbane,  a  long  eighteen  hundred  miles  in  all ; 
had  attended  most  enthusiastic  and  long-to-be-remembered 

(115) 


116  NOT   AN   EVERY-DAY   JOURNEY. 

Christian  Endeavor  Conventions  in  ail  tliese  cities;  and  on 
the  afternoon  of  October  22  were  readv  to  embark  on  the 
trim  and  staunch  Chingtw,  "the  magnificent  steamer,"  as 
the  newspaper  advertisements  called  her,  of  the  China  Navi- 
gation Compan}^ 

I  should  hardly  term  her  "  magnificent "  but  she  was  an 
exceedingly  comfortable  vessel,  and  for  three  weeks  afforded 
us  a  very  restful  and  pleasant  home  after  the  labors  of  six 
weeks  of  continuous  convention-going. 

Now  before  us  is  a  voyage  worth  taking  indeed.  None 
of  your  every-day  trips  across  the  Atlantic  that  you  can 
make  in  the  fraction  of  a  week ;  none  of  your  common 
jaunts  across  the  long  ferry  between  San  Francisco  and 
Hong  Kong;  but  a  unique  and  unusual  journey  is  this 
within  the  Great  Barrier  Reef,  and  through  the  marvelous 
Malay  Archipelago,  and  the  many  seas  and  straits  which 
form  the  water-way  between  two  of  our  five  continents. 

Here  is  a  new  sensation  for  the  hlase  traveler ;  a  journey 
at  which  every  scribbling  voyager  from  the  time  of  Colum- 
bus has  not  had  a  hack.  Here  is  a  trip  over  unruffled 
seas  and  on  an  even  keel,  such  a  trip  as  one  frequently  reads 
about  in  flaming  descriptions  of  rival  steamboat  lines,  but 
very  rarely  experiences  after  one  has  taken  passage  on  one 
of  the  aforesaid  rival  steamships. 

Before  we  get  out  of  Moreton  bay,  into  which  the  Bris- 
bane river  debouches  and  which  is  the  point  of  our  embarka- 
tion, let  us  take  a  look  at  the  Chingtu,  our  floating  home  for 
the  next  three  weeks.  It  is  a  long,  low-built,  somewhat 
rakish-looking  steamer,  with  a  huge  black  smoke-stack,  a 
laro'e  amount  of  awning;  to  ward  off  the  ravs  of  the  fierce 
tropical  sun,  and  large  steerage  accommodations  for  John 
Chinaman,  who  always  extensively  patronizes  this  line,  as  he 
goes  back  and  forth  to  and  from  his  native  land. 


ON   BOARD   THE    "  CHINGTU.  117 

Being  built  largely  for  freight,  the  first-class  passenger 
accommodations  are  somewhat  limited,  but  they  are  quite 
sufficient  for  the  passenger  traffic  of  this  remote  corner  of 
the  world,  and  they  make  u])  in  quality  what  they  lack  in 
quantity.  Everything  is  exquisitely  neat,  the  table  is  abun- 
dant and  excellent,  and  the  service  of  the  Chinese  stewards 
leaves  nothing  to  be  desired.  Quick,  observant,  quiet,  cat- 
like in  their  tread,  these  China  boys  are  the  perfection  of 
ship  servants. 

All  our  sailors,  as  well  as  cooks,  waiters,  and  stewards 
are  Chinese  or  Malays,  and  even  the  librarian  of  the  ChingUo 
is  ''IS'umber  One  Boy''  as  his  fellow-stewards  call  him.  At 
the  table  the  watchful  "Boy"  who  is  detailed  to  look  after 
our  comfort  stands  at  our  elbow  to  replenish  our  tumbler,  or 
to  fill  our  teacup,  or  to  pass  us  the  toast  whenever  our  empty 
cup  or  plate  suggests  any  lack,  and  gently  to  insinuate  the 
bill  of  fare  under  our  nose  when  we  pause  for  a  moment  in 
our  gastronomic  efforts. 

Order  for  "loast  beef"  and  "olange  flittels"  are  continu- 
ally sent  back  to  the  cook  in  the  galley,  and  I  know  of 
a  small  boy  who  finds  it  very  hard  to  repress  a  snicker  when 
at  the  breakfast  table  the  frequent  order  for  "lice  cakes" 
is  heard. 

In  every  way  we  are  reminded  that  the  ship  is  built  for 
tropical  weather.  The  double  awning  over  the  promenade 
deck,  through  which  even  the  awful  sun-glare  of  Northern 
Australia  hnds  it  hard  to  pierce ;  the  heavy  Indian  punkahs 
over  each  table,  which,  during  the  meals,  are  swung  by 
invisible  coolies ;  the  hard  beds  on  which  are  no  blankets  or 
spreads  or  even  sheets,  all  tell  us  to  make  \x\i  our  minds  for 
hot  weather.  And  well  we  may,  for  the  cruise  of  the 
Chingtu  is  almost   wholly  within   the  tropics. 

The  only  drawback  (and  in  this  imperfect  world  there 


118  THE  AH   SEES. 

must  be  some  drawback  even  to  such  a  summer  voyage  as 
this)  is  the  continuous  heat.  Xot  that  it  is  remarkably  in- 
tense at  any  one  moment,  l)ut  it  is  so  unremitting  and  ener 
vating  that  one  longs  for  an  ice  palace  and  a  toboggan  slide 
many  times  every  day.  Eighty-five  degrees  in  the  morning, 
and  eighty-seven  degrees  at  noon,  and  eighty-five  degrees 
again  at  sunset,  and  eighty -four  degrees  at  midnight,  when 
continued  day  after  day,  are  calculated  to  reduce  the  pity 
one  has  always  felt  for  the  Esquimau  in  his  snow  hut. 

'Now  let  us  take  a  look  at  our  fellow  passengers  of  the 
Chingtu.  Not  the  Europeans  with  their  continental  dress 
and  their  chimney-pot  hats  and  their  calf -skin  boots :  we 
will  not  waste  our  time  upon  such  common  people  (by  the 
way,  your  point  of  view  makes  all  the  difference  in  the 
world  as  to  who  the  common  people  are),  but  we  will  look 
on  the  afterdeck  and  on  the  poop  for  the  second  and  third- 
class  passengers,  if  we  would  forage  in  fresh  fields  and 
human  pastures  new. 

There  on  the  poop  deck  we  shall  find  Mr.  Ah  See  with 
his  two  wives  and  his  four  children ;  the  prosperous  Chinese 
merchant  of  Sydney,  who  has  made  his  little  pile  in  Aus- 
tralia, and  is  going  home  to  spend  it  in  Canton,  where  he 
will  be  a  great  and  wealthy  man  among  his  almond-eyed 
confreres. 

Mr.  Ah  See  is  fat  and  good-natured,  and  seems  very  fond 
of  the  four  little  Ah  Sees,  even  though  two  of  them  are 
girls.  Like  the  model  husband  that  he  seems  to  be,  he  has 
one  of  the  children  in  his  arms  most  of  the  time,  even 
though  he  has  two  wives  to  care  for  them. 

But    "Tommy"    and     "Fleddy,"     and     "Maly"    and 

"  Eliza  "  are  all  very  nearly  of  an  age,  and  are  quite  bright 

and  pert  enough  to  do  credit  to  their  English  names.     Mrs. 

Ah  See  Number  One  is  a  stout  woman  with   a  pleasanv. 


"TAME  BLACKS."  119 

motherly  face,  slant  eyes,  and  two  huge  shell  rings  in  her 
ears,  while  her  hair  is  done  up  in  a  most  fearful  and  wonder- 
ful fashion,  quite  equal  to  the  coiffure  of  an  American  belle 
when  chignons  were  in  fashion  a  few  years  since. 

She  evidently  "  rules  the  roost  "  in  the  Ah  See  household, 
while  Mrs.  Ah  See  Number  Two  is  like  an  older  daughter, 
thoufi-h  more  submissive  and  bidable  than  some  elder  dauo-h- 
ters  whom  I  know. 

"When  I  desire  to  take  their  pictures,  Mrs.  ]N"umber  One 
steps  forward,  takes  little  Eliza  from  Mrs.  Number  Two,  who 
is  giving  the  baby  her  morning  meal  from  the  maternal 
fount,  and  is  ready  to  pose  before  the  kodak  in  her  appro- 
priate place  as  the  rightful  head  of  the  family  and  the 
mother  of  all  the  children ;  and,  in  a  certain  sense,  of  all 
the  other  wives  as  well. 

Here,  also,  are  three  "  black  fellows  "  among  the  third- 
class  passengers  who  are  going  to  Port  Darwin  with  a  cattle- 
drove,  and  from  thence  into  the  uninhabited  wilds  of  South 
Australia.  Quiet,  stolid,  undemonstrative  fellows  are  these 
"  tame  blacks,"  who  seem  to  care  for  nothing  but  to  be 
stretch^l  on  the  hatchway  all  day  long,  and  to  sit  up  long 
enough  to  eat  an  enormous  plate  of  beef  and  potatoes  and 
cabbage  three  times  a  day.  Their  skins  are  jet  black  ;  such 
a  depth  of  lustrous  blackness  as  I  have  never  seen  except  in 
Australian  aborigines ;  their  eyes  are  as  black  as  their  skins, 
and  glow  like  two  stars  in  a  setting  of  alabaster  ;  while  their 
woolly  hair  that  stands  up  on  end  is  as  black  as  everything 
else  about  them  excepting  the  whites  of  their  eyes. 

Their  faces  are  not  vicious,  however,  and  they  make 
faithful  shepherds  and  herdsmen  who  will  defend  their  mas- 
ters against  their  ferocious  brethren,  who  still  infest  the 
northern  portion  of  Australia. 

Interesting  as  are  our  second  and  third-class  fellow  pas- 


120  OUR  FRIENDS   IN  THE   STEERAGE. 

sengers,  our  friends  in  the  steerage  are  more  interesting  still, 
for  here  we  have  John  Chinaman,  in  all  his  heathen  unlove- 
liness,  to  be  sure,  but  at  the  same  time,  m  all  his  picturesque 
barbarity.  Here  are  some  fifty  or  sixty  Mongolians  going 
back  to  China  once  more.  More  than  Mecca  to  the  Moham- 
medan, more  than  Paris  to  the  Frenchman,  more  than 
London  to  the  cockney,  is  China  to  the  Chinaman.  His 
cupidity  will  tempt  him  to  go  away,  but  nothing  can  per- 
suade him  to  stay  away  from  his  beloved  land,  and  every 
returning  ship  is  loaded  with  returning  Celestials.  If,  by 
any  mischance,  he  dies  away  from  home,  his  bones  are 
never  allowed  to  rest  in  peace  except  in  the  soil  of  the  Flow- 
ery Kingdom. 

So  it  happens  that  many  of  our  passengers  on  the 
Chingtu  are  old  men,  decrepit  and  feeble,  toothless  and 
almost  blind,  who  are  evidently  taking  their  bones  home  for 
burial,  thus  getting  a  last  glimpse  of  their  native  land  and 
saving  the  expense  of  an  embalming  surgeon  at  the  same 
time. 

But  others  among  our  passengers  are  stalwart,  lusty 
young  Celestials,  wdth  neatly-braided  pig-tails  coiled  under 
their  caps  or  thrust  into  a  side-pocket  of  their  white  blouses. 

It  is  an  unending  source  of  enjoyment  to  go  into  the 
steerage  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night,  a  free  play-house, 
where  the  actors  are  all  entirely  unconscious  of  histrionic 
effort,  and  thus  attain  the  perfection  of  good  acting. 

To  go  down  the  companion-way  Avhich  separates  the 
cabin  passengers  from  the  steerage,  is  a  swaft  descent  from 
Europe  to  China,  and  at  meal-times  the  visit  is  always  espe- 
cially interesting.  In  their  very  impromptu  meals,  first  a 
big  wicker  basket  of  rice,  the  great  staple  of  Chinadom 
everywhere,  is  brought  in  from  the  galley  and  set  down 
anywhere  on  the  steerage  deck.     Then  a  small  dish  of  meat 


RICE  AND   CHOPSTICKS.  121 

soused  in  plenty  of  gravy  follows,  tlien  another  dish  of 
boiled  greens  and  a  bottle  of  Chinese  wine  is  set  on  the  deck, 
and  dinner  is  served.  A  dozen  bare-legged  Chinamen,  clad 
in  shiny  black  waterproof  blouses,  squat  around  these  four 
dishes  and  prepare  for  business.  Each  has  a  china  bowl  and 
two  chopsticks  in  his  hand.  First  he  fills  his  bowl  to  the 
brim  with  boiled  rice,  and  then  how  he  makes  the  chop- 
sticks fly  !  Putting  the  rim  of  the  bowl  close  up  to  his  lips, 
he  shovels  his  mouth  full  of  rice  with  his  rapid  little  sticks. 
"When  it  can  hold  no  more  he  pauses  for  a  moment  for 
breath  and  for  mastication,  and  then  picks  up  most  dexter- 
ously a  morsel  of  meat  and  a  wad  of  greens  which  he  crowds 
into  the  interstices  of  the  rice-filled  cavern  Avhich  he  calls  his 
mouth. 

After  munching  this  mixture  Avith  evident  satisfaction 
for  a  minute  or  two,  he  again  raises  the  rice  bowl  to  his  lips, 
crams  the  cavern  again  Avith  the  utmost  alacrit}^,  adds  a 
little  spice  in  the  Avay  of  meat  and  greens,  and  enjoys  an- 
other rapturous  period  of  mastication  until  that,  too,  is  dis- 
posed of.  It  is  Avonderful  hoAv  long  these  felloAvs  can  squat 
on  their  haunches.  A  position  Avhich  Avould  cramp  our  mar- 
roAV  bones  in  half  a  minute  they  will  maintain  throughout  a 
long  meal,  apparently  Avith  the  utmost  ease  and  composure. 

Just  beyond  the  dinner  party  is  a  circle  of  gamblers 
around  the  fan-tan  "  lay  out " ;  for  John  is  an  inveterate 
gambler.  He  Avill  Avork  like  a  slaA^e  for  years  in  some 
foreign  land,  save  and  scrape  and  hoard  and  live  on  next  to 
nothing ;  and  then  gamble  away  all  his  little  hoard  on  his 
journey  back  to  China.  First,  he  Avill  bet  all  his  money, 
then  wager  his  clothes,  and  then  his  Avife  and  children, 
Avhile,  if  his  soul  were  at  his  own  disposal,  I  haA^e  no  doubt 
he  Avould  Avager  that  in  his  passion  for  gambling. 

Squatting  on  their  haunches  in  a  corner  of  the  steerage 


122  WITHIN   THE  BARRIER  REEF. 

deck  is  another  circle  of  Chinese  gamblers,  throwing  dice 
and  playing  cards,  with  a  dexterity  acquired  only  by  long 
experience.  They  are  smoking  cigarettes,  or  curious  pipes 
with  minute  bowls,  which  when  not  in  use  they  tuck  behind 
their  ears,  until  they  desire  another  whiff. 

But  it  must  not  be  thought  that  all  the  passengers  of  the 
Chingtu  are  gamblers.  A  traveler  in  foreign  lands  is  only 
in  duty  bound  to  describe  the  unusual  and  picturesque,  and 
he  need  not  waste  his  space  upon  the  manly  but  everyday 
officers  of  the  Chingtu,  or  the  very  pleasant,  but  quite  un- 
noteworthy  Englishmen  and  Australians,  Americans  and 
Germans  and  Frenchmen  who  make  up  her  small  first-class 
passenger  list. 

Now  it  is  quite  time  that  we  turn  our  thoughts  from  the 
little  world  of  the  Chingtu  to  the  larger  world  around  us. 

We  were  just  steering  out  of  Moreton  bay,  were  w^e  not, 
when  we  went  below  to  look  at  our  strange  assortment 
of  passengers  ? 

The  water  is  smooth  and  glassy,  and  over  just  such  an 
unruffled  sea  the  captain  tells  we  are  likely  to  sail  for  more 
than  two  weeks,  for,  during  the  first  week,  we  shall  keep 
well  within  the  Great  Barrier  reefs  w^hich  effectually  prevent 
the  rude  Atlantic  waves  from  buffeting  our  progress ;  and 
during  the  second  week,  the  many  islands  off  the  coast  of 
Northern  Australia  and  the  Malay  Archipelago  act  as  break- 
waters for  our  course,  so  that,  practically,  with  the  exception 
of  the  last  three  days,  the  whole  cruise  of  the  Chingtu  is 
within  landlocked  seas.  This  assurance  is  a  great  delight  to 
some  of  our  company,  for  even  the  most  indifferent  sailor 
cannot  fail  to  enjoy  such  a  trip  as  this. 

Those  sunbaked,  blistered  mountains  on  our  left  mark 
the  coast  of  Queensland,  and  what  a  tremendous  colony  it 
is!     More  than  five  times  the  size  of  Great  Britain  and  Ire- 


.a     > 

a 
o 
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ft) 

O 

•^  "^  —  tg 
S  !"  5  o 

^^^    I 

s  J^  9=     M 

P;  ^  ^     [> 

E  ?r   M 
o  -. 

3     OD        > 

S  D-    r; 
re  S    2i 

^"•^  :;•  o 

2  g-   ^ 

2   O      '^ 

:;  «=    W 

g  e:  S3 

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Si.  ff      ^ 

"■  -,  o 
<  p 

-Is 

Ess 

Is  § 

O   ^      i 


w  CI<5      g 

cr  P     S 


WHITE    MAX,    HE   TOO    SALT. 


125 


land,  the  geographies  tell  us,  and  we  can  well  imagine  that 
they  are  not  exaggerating  the  truth,  as  we  sail  on,  day  after 
day,  day  after  day,  in 
vain  effort  to  get  beyond 
the  northern  point  of 
Cape  York. 

Far  off  yonder  in 
Northern  Australia  are 
unexplored  wilds  and 
savage  black  men,  who 
would  not  only  take 
pleasure,  so  our  captain 
tells  us,  in  flaying  us 
alive,  but  in  eating  a 
good  tender  Yankee  after 
he  has  been  well  flayed 
and  cooked.  These  blacks 
prefer  Chinamen,  how- 
ever, so  he  assures  us,  to 
Yankees  or  to  people  of 
European  extraction  of  any  kind,  for  they  are  much 
"fresher"  says  our  epicurean  aboriginal.  ''White  man,  he 
too  salt,"  is  the  verdict  of  this  fastidious  savage.  Well,  we 
will  rejoice  in  our  saline  characteristics,  for  if  we  should  be 
cast  ashore  on  this  inhospitable  coast,  salt,  as  is  its  nature, 
may  preserve  us. 

On  the  left  or  Australian  side,  as  we  steam  northward, 
headland  succeeds  headland;  on  the  right,  island  succeeds 
island,  and  so  all  day  long  and  all  the  days  long,  Ave  glide  on 
with  never  enough  of  a  pitch  or  a  roll  to  disturb  the  most 
sensitive  stomach. 

Early  in  its  history  the  government  of  Queensland 
offered  rcAvards,  varving  from  a  thousand  to  five  thousand 


ABORIGINAL   AUSTRALIAN. 


15^6  CAPRICIOUS   FORTUNE. 

dollars  for  tlie  discovery  of  payable  gold  fields.  As  can 
easily  be  imagined,  this  offer,  combined  Avith  the  certain 
wealth  which  a  great  gold  mine  would  assure,  set  many  men 
to  searching  with  all  their  eyes  over  the  hot  plains  of 
Queensland.  But  fortune  is  proverbially  capricious  with 
the  gold  seeker,  and  it  so  happened  that  not  one  of  these 
scientific  gold  hunters,  but  a  ])oor  vagabond,  named  Kash, 
who  toward  the  end  of  1867  was  wandering  about  in  an  aim- 
less sort  of  way  in  the  neighborhood  of  Gympie,  about  130 
miles  from  Brisbane,  found  ''an  auriferous  region  of  great 
extent,"  as  the  Australian  histories  put  it.  In  other  words, 
he  had  struck  gold  and  struck  it  rich.  In  a  day  or  two  his 
empty  pockets  were  heavier  b}"  several  thousand  dollars 
worth  of  gold  than  when  he  made  his  great  "find."  At  first 
he  set  to  work  to  gather  it  all  in  for  himself,  but  his  gold 
field  was  near  a  traveled  road,  and  he  was  frequently 
obliged  to  crouch  among  the  bushes  until  the  distant  foot- 
steps told  him  that  the  departing  traveler  was  far  on  his 
way.  Then  he  would  go  to  work  witli  feverish  haste  to 
scrape  together  a  few  more  shining  flakes  of  the  precious 
metal. 

At  length,  however,  he  found  that  he  could  not  keep  his 
precious  gold  field  all  to  himself  any  longer,  and,  going  to 
the  nearest  town  of  Maryborough,  he  proclaimed  his  discov- 
erv,  and  received  his  reward. 

As  can  easily  be  imagined,  a  rush  at  once  took  place  to 
Gympie,  and  one  of  the  early  gold  birds  found  a  most  re- 
markable worm  very  near  the  surface  of  the  ground,  in  the 
shape  of  a  nugget  of  pure  gold  that  weighed  nearly  a  hun- 
dred pounds. 

Even  this  nugget,  however,  is  eclipsed  by  several  that 
have  been  found  in  the  colony  of  Victoria,  such  as  the 
"Welcome    Stranger,"    found    in     1869,    which     actually 


WELCOME  NUGGETS   FOR  WEARY   MINERS.  127 

weighed  in  the  scales  190  pounds,  and  was  worth  about 
forty  thousand  doUars.  Besides  the  ''Welcome  Stranger" 
was  the  "Welcome"  nugget,  found  in  1858,  and  only  smaller 
by  six  pounds  tlian  the  great  golden  lump  I  have  already 
described,  while  still  another,  found  in  1853,  weighed  almost 
132  pounds. 

"  Welcome  strangers,"  indeed,  were  all  these  nuggets  to 
the  weary  and  often  discouraged  miners.  But  those  discov- 
eries were  made  in  the  golden  age  of  Australian  gold  min- 
inof.  A  friend  of  mine  who  lived  in  Ballarat  during  this 
golden  age,  tells  me  that  frequently,  when  a  boy,  he  has 
borrowed  the  muddy  boots  of  the  miners  after  their  return 
from  a  day's  work  in  the  alluvial  gold  fields,  for  the  sake  of 
scraping  the  mud  off  their  dirty  brogans  ;  and  that. he  has 
frequently  scraped  five  shillings  worth  of  gold  from  a  single 
pair  of  boots. 

He  was  an  honest,  truthful  man,  moreover,  who  told  me 
this  story,  and  he  would  not  be  guilty  of  presuming  on  the 
gullibility  of  a  credulous  Yankee.  So  my  readers  may 
accept  his  astounding  story  as  absolute  truth. 

But  to  return  to  the  Queensland  gold  fields.  The 
romance  of  the  Morgan  mine  eclipses  all  the  rest.  In  1858, 
a  young  squatter  bought  from  the  government  a  section  of 
640  acres  near  Rockhampton.  When  he  came  to  "squat," 
however,  he  found  that  his  selection  was  a  barren,  rocky  hill, 
and  that  it  was  quite  useless  for  agricultural  purposes.  So 
he  thought  himself  very  lucky  when  he  found  three  brothers 
named  Morgan,  who  ^vould  take  his  unprofitable  purchase 
off  his  hands  for  about  three  thousand  dollars.  Hugging  his 
precious  three  thousand  dollars,  he  left  that  part  of  the  coun- 
try forever,  shaking  its  unproductive  dust  from  his  feet. 

But  the  Morgan  brothers  found,  that  though  they  could 
not  raise  cabbages  among  the  dirty  gray  rocks  of  their  new 


128  A  PARCHED   AND   HOWLING  WILDERNESS. 

purchase,  they  could  get  out  of  them  something  vastly  more 
valuable,  for  in  every  cart  load  of  the  rock  there  was  more 
than  one  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  gold ;  in  fact,  they  found 
that  they  had  on  their  hands  the  richest  gold  mine  ever  dis- 
covered in  the  historv  of  the  world. 

A  jQkv  or  two  after  this  the  hill  was  sold  for  forty  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  and  already  dividends  to  the  amount  of 
nearly  fifty  millions  of  dollars  have  been  paid  by  the  Mor- 
gan mine,  and  still  there  are  "  millions  in  it." 

But  to  skip  from  shore  to  sea  again.  As  the  Chingtu- 
makes  her  slow  and  tortuous  way  along  the  coast,  avoiding 
sunken  reefs,  dodging  islands,  and  threading  intricate  pas- 
sages, we  see  very  little  of  human  life  except  that  which  our 
polyglot  and  cosmopolitan  passenger  list  contains.  •  For  hun- 
dreds of  miles  there  is  no  white  settlement,  only  a  parched 
and  howling  wilderness,  into  which  it  is  not  safe  for  a  white 
man  to  penetrate  unless  Avith  a  strong  guard.  Here  and 
there  a  bush-fire  shows  us  the  location  of  a  native  encamp- 
ment, and  once  we  descried  on  the  water  horizon  a  black 
speck  which  seemed  to  be  moving  nearer.  Anything 
unusual  at  sea  attracts  attention,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
half  a  dozen  opera  glasses  were  trained  ujDon  the  spot.  The 
speck  soon  resolved  itself  into  a  native  canoe,  and  the  canoe 
was  seen  to  contain  four  naked  blacks.  Their  craft  was 
simply  a  hollowed-out  log  pointed  at  the  ends,  with  a  long 
outrider  which  prevented  it  from  rolling  over  as  it  certainly 
would  have  done  otherwise.  As  the  blacks  came  nearer,  we 
saw  that  they  were  bearing  down  upon  our  ship  and  pad- 
dling with  all  their  might.  When  they  got  A^ithin  ear  shot 
they  all  lifted  up  their  voices  and  cried  :  "  backy,"  "■  backy," 
"  backy  "  (tobacco). 

But  the  Chingtu  majestically  kept  on  her  way.  The  pit- 
iful cry,  "  backy,"  "  backy,"  "  backy,"  became  fainter  and 


THE   CONQUERING  ANGLO-SAXON. 


129 


fainter,  the  log  canoe  faded  into  a  speck  again,  and  the  speck 
vanished  altogether. 

What  a  perfect  type,  I  said  to  myself,  of  the  vanishing 
bushmen  in  the  presence  of  the  majestic  white  race.     AVhat 


"BACKy,"    '"BACKV.' 

the  feeble  little  dug-out  is  to  the  full-powered  ocean  steamer, 
so  is  the  remnant  of  this  aboriginal  nation  to  the  all-conquer- 
ing whites.  As  the  Chingtu  contemptuously  leaves  the 
canoe  in  the  distance  without  even  slackening  speed  to  listen 
to  the  appeal  of  its  occupants,  so  the  contemptuous  English- 
speaking  races  in  all  parts  of  the  world  leave  their  colored 
brethren  behind  or  spurn  them  from  their  presence.  As 
"  backy  "  was  the  one  corrupted  English  word  which  these 
black  fellows  seemed  to  know,  so  the  vices  of  the  dominant 
race  first  become  known  and  assimilated.  As  the  canoe  van- 
ished into  the  haz}"  distance  while  the  Chingtu  held  strongly 
on  her  appointed  cruise,  so  the  black  races  are  disappearing, 


130  THROUGH  ALBANY  PASS. 

while  tlie  Anglo-Saxons  keep  steadily  on  their  way,  conquer- 
ing and  to  conquer. 

But  while  we  are  musing  about  these  black  fellows,  the 
Chingta  has  been  plowing  her  serpentine  way  along  the 
much-indented  coast  of  this  huge  colony. 

We  have  left  the  sandy  reach  where  Capt.  Cook  more 
than  a  hundred  years  ago  beached  his  famous  ship,  the 
Endeavor,  which  had  been  sadly  disabled  in  trying  to  find 
an  entrance  through  the  Barrier  Reef ;  we  have  steamed  for 
a  whole  week  since  leaving  Brisbane,  along  these  unending 
shores ;  and  now,  just  seven  days  from  the  start,  the  Chingtu 
cleaves  her  way  through  Albany  Pass,  a  narrow  strait 
between  two  verdure-clad  islands,  at  the  very  tip  end  of 
Northern  Australia. 

On  either  hand  as  we  went  through  Albany  Pass,  we 
saw  hundreds  of  curious  red  mounds,  which  at  first  we  took 
for  decaying  tree  stumps,  so  regular  and  symmetrical  were 
they.  But  on  examining  them  more  closely  through  our 
glasses  we  found  that  they  were  white  ant  hills,  and  a  most 
singular  appearance  they  gave  the  land,  as  though  it  had 
been  hastily  cleared  by  settlers  who  had  left  the  stumjjs 
about  four  feet  high  to  rot  away  at  their  leisure. 

Soon  after  passing  through  Albany  strait,  the  gaunt, 
spectral  yards  of  a  four-masted,  square-rigged  ship  appeared 
on  the  horizon,  fixed  and  motionless  as  they  have  been  for 
five  years  past,  ever  since  the  good  ship  Volga  struck  on  the 
coral  reef  and  sunk  in  a  few  fathoms  of  water,  leaving  her 
yards  and  masts  above  the  waves,  a  sad  monument  to  the 
power  of  the  unseen  foe  beneath. 

Then  a  few  more  hours  of  sailing  arPd  we  drop  anchor  in 
the  roadstead  of  Thursday  Island  at  the  northern  extremity 
of  Cape  York,  and  at  this  safe  anchorage,  the  first  part  of 
the  cruise  of  the  Chingtu  has  come  to  an  end. 


CHAPTER  YII. 

THE  CRUISE  OF  THE  C/Z/iN^G^TfT;  — CONTINUED. 

All  the  Days  of  the  "Week  —  A  Convenient  Nomenclature  —  A  Diet  of  Sea 
Worms  —  Trade  in  Bloodsuckers  —  Reminiscences  of  My  Boyhood  —  A 
Hideous  Delicacy  —  The  Pearl  Fishery  —  Plums  in  the  Pudding  —  The 
Pearl  Diver's  Equipment  —  A  Short  but  not  a  Merry  Life  —  A  Baking 
Day  and  Steamy  Night  —  The  Aborigines  —  In  the  Celebes  Sea  —  The 
Connecticut  of  the  South  Sea  —  The  Nutmeg  at  Home  —  The  Possibili- 
ties of  a  Ball  of  Twine  —  How  the  Bride  Wore  the  Trousers — Euro- 
pean Clothes  and  Civilization  —  A  Snake  Story  —  An  Unwelcome 
Guest — Dislodging  his  Serpentship  —  A  Battle  with  a  Python  —  The 
Spicy  Breezes  —  The  Noble  Work  of  the  Missionary  —  How  the  Chief 
Took  the  Census  — At  His  Wit's  End  — A  Shrewd  Rajah  — Some 
Passengers  —  Some  Members  of  the  Feline  Tribe  —  The  Tale  of  Tor- 
toise-shell Tommy. 


(HURSDAY  ISLAND  is  the  only 
island  in  the  little  archipelago  to 
the  north  of  Australia  that  con- 
tains any  considerable  settlement 
of  Europeans,  but  the  other  days 
of  the  week  are  not  neglected  by 
any  means,  for  there  is  Friday 
Island  and  Saturday  Island,  Sun- 
day Island  and  Monday  Island, 
Tuesday  Island  and  Wednesday 
Island;  and  the  CMngtu  steams 
by  nearly  all  of  them  in  going  in 
or  out  of  Tiiursday  Island  harbor. 

A  convenient  method  of  nomenclature  this,  which  we 
would  commend  to  geographers  who  have  lands  to  name,  if 
there  remain  any  new  lands  to  be  discovered.     Then,  when 

( 131  ) 


132  NAMING   COUNTRIES   FROM   THE  CALENDAR. 

the  days  of  the  week  have  been  exhausted,  they  would  find 
an  ahnost  unfailing  source  of  supply  in  the  days  of  the 
month,  as,  for  instance,  the  "  Fiftli  of  Kovember,"  and  the 
"  Twenty -third  of  July,"  and  "  January  Eighteenth." 

Then  the  houi's  of  the  dav  might  be  resorted  to,  and  we 
should  read  upon  our  maps  ''  Four  O'clock  Island,"  and 
"  Midnight  Bay,"  and  "  Six-thirty  Eiver."  What  a  pity 
this  picturesque  system  suggested  by  Thursday  and  her  sis- 
ter islands  was  not  thought  of  before  we  had  disfig-ured  our 
maps  with  so  many  Smithtowns  and  Brownsvilles  and  Jones- 
ports,  and  Clark  counties ! 

Soon  the  Chingtu  is  not  only  anchored,  but  made  doubly 
secure  by  being  tied  up  to  an  old  hulk  which  is  anchored  in 
the  roadstead  for  a  sort  of  cargo-receiving  ship  ;  and  by  the 
kind  thoughtfulness  of  friends  in  Sydney,  who  had  "wired" 
that  we  were  coming,  we  are  taken  ashore  by  the  agent  of 
the  chief  mercantile  house  of  the  place,  and  are  shown 
evervthino^  that  the  resources  of  Thursday  Island  have  to 
offer. 

What  are  the  great  staple  exports  of  Thursday  Island, 
my  readers?  If  I  should  give  you  twenty  or  a  hundred 
and  twenty  guesses,  you  would  not  solve  the  conundrum. 
Not  gold  or  silver,  or  tin  or  copper,  or  wool  or  mutton,  or 
wheat  or  corn,  or  machinery  or  cotton  goods,  or  sugar  or 
spice,  or  rice  or  Yankee  notions,  but  —  do  you  give  it  up  ? 
Beclie  de  mer  and  mother-of-pearl ;  or,  in  other  words,  sea 
worms  and  oyster  shells. 

The  Beclie  de  mer  is  a  long,  slimy,  nasty  (in  the  Ameri- 
can, not  the  English,  sense  of  the  word)  slug,  which  looks 
for  all  the  world  like  an  exaggerated  leech  —  the  loathsome 
bloodsucker  that  used  to  fasten  itself  on  mv  leg's  when  I  was 
a  small  boy  and  "  went  in  swimming,"  as  small  boys  love  to 
do.     But  the  Chinese  consider  this  hideous  slug  a  great  deli- 


THE   PEARL  FISHERIES   AND   DIVERS.  133 

€acy,  and  a  very  large  commerce  in  it  has  sprung  up,  for 
nowhere  does  it  o-row  so  fat  and  hiscious  as  on  the  Aus- 
tralian  coast  and  the  adjacent  isLands. 

There  are  various  kinds  of  Beche  de  mei\  which  experts 
distinguish  as  white,  red,  black,  etc. ;  and  it  brings  from 
$150.00  to  $750.00  a  ton.  Just  now,  I  believe,  the  red 
species  of  hideousness  is  most  affected  by  Chinese  gour- 
mands. I  saw  tons  of  these  slugs  dried  and  baled,  and 
waiting  for  transportation  to  the  Flowery  Kingdom. 
•"  Dried  fish "  is  the  euphonious  but  commonplace  name  by 
which  this  article  of  export  is  known  in  Thursday  Island. 

,But  the  pearl  fishery  is,  after  all,  the  largest  industry, 
important  as  is  the  Beche  de  mer  trade.  Three  hundred 
small  boats  are  engaged  in  the  pearl  fisheries,  and  very 
profitable  they  often  prove  to  their  owners,  for  not  only  is 
there  a  steady  demand  for  the  mother-of-pearl  shell,  but 
single  perfect  pearls  are  sometimes  found  worth  from  $1,000 
to  $3,000  ;  so  that  always  there  is  the  excitement  of  possible 
sudden  wealth  connected  with  this  pursuit. 

But  the  mother-of-pearl  is  the  staple  of  trade,  the  pearls 
"themselves  being  only  the  plums  that  are  found  in  the  pud- 
ding- at  rare  intervals.  Of  these  shells  there  seems  to  be 
an  inexhaustible  supply,  and  though  the  three  hundred  ves- 
sels eng-affed  in  the  trade  bring  almost  countless  tons  to  the 
•surface,  there  are  still  countless  tons  to  be  won  from  the 
ocean's  depths. 

Our  own  vessel  adds  to  her  cargo  more  than  seventy 
tons  of  shells,  which  will  eventually  reach  Birmingham  and 
Sheffield,  to  be  made  up  into  knife-handles  and  card-cases, 
inlaid  cabinets,  and  other  articles  of  vertu. 

The  pearl  diver's  equipment  is  a  most  ungainly  and  curi- 
'Ous  affair,  for  the  shells  are  found  in  water  many  fathoms 
deep,  and  the  heaviest  of  woolen  clothes  are  used  to  protect 


134  ACROSS   THE   GULF   TO   PORT   DARWIN. 

the  diver  from  the  pressure  of  the  water,  while  the  shoes 
with  leaden  soles  which  he  uses  to  sink  him  to  the  bottom 
weigh  fully  ten  pounds  each,  and  the  helmet  which  he  dons 
weighs  as  much  as  both  his  shoes  put  together. 

But,  even  with  the  best  of  diving  gear  and  the  most  ap- 
proved appliances,  the  diver's  life  is  short  and  risky.  He 
seldom  is  able  to  follow  this  pursuit  more  than  five  or  six 
years,  and  no  divers  reach  old  age. 

Thursday  Island  is  a  place  of  great  expectations  rather 
than  of  vast  ])erformances.  Though  at  present  there  is 
only  a  single  row  of  straggling  shops,  with  a  few  pleasant 
bungalows  behind  them,  and  a  pathetic  little  "  School  of 
Arts,"  which  contains  two  pictures,  a  few  dilapidated  curios, 
and  a  small  library,  it  expects  to  be  a  great  metropolis  one 
of  these  days  ;  and,  in  fact,  has  an  excellent  location  as 
calling  port  for  steamers  going  to  various  parts  of  the  world. 
.  Our  cargo  of  mother-of-pearl  is  soon  safely  stowed  away 
in  the  hold,  the  Chingtu  weighs  anchor  again,  and  we  are 
on  our  course  once  more,  across  the  great  Gulf  of  Carpen- 
taria and  the  southern  portion  of  the  xVrafura  Sea,  about 
eight  hundred  miles,  as  the  crow  flies,  to  Port  Darwin,  the 
northern  capital  of  JSTorth  Australia. 

If  Thursday  Island  has  its  greatness  in  the  future.  Port 
Darwin  has  had  its  day  in  the  past.  Great  dreams  were  in- 
dulged in  by  its  inhabitants  in  early  days.  A  railroad  was 
to  connect  it  with  Adelaide  across  the  whole  length  of  the 
continent  of  Australia.  All  European  steamers  would  make 
it  their  port,  instead  of  going  around  the  stormy  southern 
coast.  Passengers  and  mails  would  be  transhipped  hence  to 
all  parts  of  the  world.  Its  early-discovered  gold  mine 
would  make  evervbodv  rich,  and  Palmerston,  situated  at  the 
head  of  the  Port,  would  be  one  of  the  great  commercial 
capitals  of  the  world. 


A  DISCOURAGED   RAILROAD. 


135 


But  this  dream  has  not  materialized.  The  raih'oad 
across  the  continent  has  not  been  built  nor  is  it  likely  to  be 
built.  The  only  railroad  of  which  Port  Darwin  boasts  is  a 
discouraged  sort  of  an  affair,  that  runs  a  hundred  miles  into 
the  interior  and  then  stops,  not  because  it  has  reached  an 


A  YOUNG   CITIZEN   OF  PORT  DARWIN. 


important  terminus,  but  because  it  has  not  energy  to  go  any 
further.  It  cost  a  frightful  amount  of  money,  on  which  the 
South  Australian  people  still  have  to  pay  interest,  for  it  is 
a  government  affair,  as  all  AustraHan  railroads  are.  The 
two  trains  a  day  have  dwindled  down  to  two  a  week,  and  it 
bids  fair  soon  to  rival  the  famous  ''  tri-weekly  "  road,  whose 
president  explained  the  title  by  saying  that  he  sent  a  train 
down  the  line  one  week  and  tried  to  get  it  back  the  next. 

The   gold  mines   could  not   be   worked  at  a  profit  by 
Europeans,  and  have  all  fallen  into  the  hands  of  Chinamen, 


136 


BAKED    AND   BOILED. 


and  the  five  or  six  thousand  Englishmen  and  Australians 
who  used  to  walk  the  fine,  broad  streets  of  Palmerston,  and 
live  in  its  pleasant  houses,  have  dwindled  to  a  few  hundreds, 
who  grumble   at  the  government  and   shake  their  heads 


A  NORTH  QUEENSLAND   ABORIGINAL. 


dismally,  saying  that  Port  Darwin's  golden  opportunity  has 
gone  by,  never  to  return. 

If  it  is  always  as  hot  in  Port  Darwin  as  on  baking 
day  and  the  steamy  night  that  the  Chingtu  lay  at  her 
wharf,  Avhile  we  were  her  passengers,  I  do  not  wonder  that 
Europeans  who  object  to  being  both  baked  and  boiled  m  the 
same  twenty-four  hours  refuse  to  make  it  their  home. 

The  climate,  however,  seems  exactly  to  suit  the  Aborigi- 
nal Australians  who  are  found  here  in  large  numbers.     Tall 


SAILING  OVER   TROPIC   SEAS.  137 

men  with  long,  thin  legs,  intensely  black  skins,  and  wiry- 
crinkly  hair,  tall  women  equally  black  and  equally  thin,  and 
absolutely  naked  little  boys,  perched  on  their  mother's  necks 
or  trotting  by  their  mother's  side,  as  happy  as  boys  of  a 
cloudier  clime,  are  seen  everywhere. 

A  few  hours  of  intensely  hot  daylight  and  a  long,  in- 
sufferably hot  night  were  quite  enough  of  Port  Darwin  for 
us,  and  glad  we  were  to  hear  the  Captain's  order  the  next 
morning  to  "  cast  off  the  bow  line  "  and  get  under  way. 

For  the  next  twenty-three  hundred  miles  the  cruise  of 
the  Chingtu  is  between  tropic  islands  and  across  tropic  seas ; 
the  Arafura  and  the  Banda  and  the  Celebes  and  the  Sulu 
and  the  China  seas,  one  after  the  other  following  each  other 
in  quick  succession. 

A  most  lovely  sail  it  is,  and  one  that  would  be  taken  far 
oftener  than  it  is  by  pleasure  seekers  if  its  joys  were  known. 
Scarcely  a  day  of  rough  weather  need  be  apprehended  until 
the  China  sea  is  reached,  and  a  most  wonderful  series  of 
archipelagos  is  passed,  any  one  of  which  might  well  delay 
a  naturalist  or  ethnologist  for  years  had  he  the  time  to 
spare. 

Our  course  at  first  lies  among  the  Austro-Malayan  group 
whose  forests  contain  many  of  the  typical  Eucalyptus  trees, 
and  whose  birds  and  insects  are  nearly  allied  to  those  of  the 
great  Australian  continent  which  once  doubtless  extended 
much  further  north  than  it  does  at  present. 

After  we  get  into  the  Celebes  sea  we  have  touched  the 
borders  of  the  Indo-Malayan  region  where  the  islands  are 
less  affected  by  the  blasting  hot  winds  that  cross  the  seas 
after  sweeping  over  the  Australian  deserts,  and  where  the 
birds  and  beasts,  the  trees  and  flowers,  are  more  allied  to 
those  of  India. 

Some  of  these  islands  are  of  vast  extent.     If  you  should 


138  DUTCH  MONOPOLY  OF  NUTMEGS. 

draw  a  map  of  Borneo,  for  instance,  you  would  find  that 
it  was  not  unlike  in  shape  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  but  vastly  larger,  for  you  could  set 
England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  Wales  inside  of  Borneo,  and 
have  a  great  rim  of  green  trees  and  verdure  hundreds  of 
miles  wide  surrounding  that  mighty  little  kingdom. 

New  Guinea  is  probably  stili  larger  than  Borneo,  though 
its  irregular  coasts  and  unexplored  territory  make  it  difficult 
to  tell  to  a  certainty. 

Many  of  these  islands  are  under  Dutch  control,  and  very 
good  masters  on  the  whole  do  Dutchmen  make.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  know  what  the  doughty  little  kingdom  behind 
the  dilvcs  would  do  were  it  not  for  these  spice  islands  of  the 
South  seas,  where  it  coins  gold  out  of  nutmegs  and  cloves, 
cinnamon  and  allspice. 

The  island  of  Banda  is  the  greatest  nutmeg  region  of  the 
world,  barring  Connecticut,  and  many  years  ago  the  Dutch 
attempted  to  secure  a  monoply  of  this  product  by  cutting- 
down  the  nutmeg  trees  on  the  other  islands  where  they 
grew  naturally,  in  order  that  they  might  be  confined  to 
Banda,  where  the  monopoly  could  be  protected. 

Nutmeg  trees  are  very  symmetrical  in  shape,  with  bright 
glossy  leaves.  They  grow  to  a  height  of  twenty  or  thirty 
feet,  bearing  small  yellow  flowers.  The  fruit  looks  much 
like  a  peach  in  size  and  color.  When  it  is  ripe  it  splits  open 
and  shows  a  dark  brown  nut  within.  Still,  we  have  not  got 
to  the  nutmeg  itself.  The  fruit  is  like  a  nest  of  Chinese 
boxes,  for  within  the  thin  hard  shell  which  is  now  disclosed 
is  the  nutmeg  of  commerce. 

Towards  evening  of  the  third  day  from  Port  Darwin  we 
passed  between  the  great  islands  of  Ceram  on  one  side  and 
Bouro  on  the  other.  Nestling  in  the  lee  of  Ceram  is  the 
little  island  of  Amboyna,  which  contains  one  of  the  oldest 


THE  MALAYAN  AND  THE  PAPUAN.  139 

European  settlements  in  the  South  seas.  Plere  the  Dutch 
governor  is  Lord  of  all  he  surveys,  and  is  only  disturbed 
in  his  solitude  by  a  few  vessels  that  come  on  their  spice- 
laden  errands  once  or  twice  a  year. 

The  inhabitants  of  these  islands  may,  in  a  general  way, 
be  divided  into  two  great  types,  the  Malayan  and  the 
Papuan.  A  rough  classification  gives  the  eastern  islands  to 
the  Papuan  races ;  the  western,  which  lie  nearer  to  China 
and  India,  to  the  Malayan  races.  The  Malay  has  been 
described  as  of  "short  stature,  brown-skinned,  straight- 
haired,  beardless,  and  smooth-bodied.  The  Papuan  is  taller, 
is  black-skinned,  frizzly-haired,  branded,  and  hairy-bodied. 
The  former  is  broad-faced,  has  a  small  nose,  and  flat  eye- 
brows ;  the  latter  is  long-faced,  has  a  large  and  prominent 
nose  and  flat  eye-brows.  The  Malay  is  bashful,  cold,  un- 
demonstrative, and  quiet;  the  Papuan  is  bold,  impetuous, 
excitable,  and  noisy.  The  former  is  grave  and  seldom 
laughs;  the  latter  is  joyous  and  laughter-loving  —  the  one 
conceals  his  emotions,  the  other  displays  them." 

Perhaps  this  epigrammatic  description  by  one  who  spent 
many  years  among  these  islands  will  serve  to  introduce  our 
neighbors  on  either  side  of  the  CMngtu  to  my  readers, 
better  than  any  words  of  mine. 

There  is  little  need  to  describe  the  clothes  of  either  of 
these  neighbors,  for  they  seldom  consult  Paris  modes  or  ITew 
York  tailors.  A  friend  of  mine  who  once  lived  in  New 
Guinea  was  consulted  by  a  tailor  of  London  as  to  whether 
there  would  not  be  a  good  opening  for  a  man  of  his  craft  in 
that  great  island.  My  friend  replied  that  a  ball  of  twine 
would  afford  ample  clothing  for  half  a  century  for  all  the 
natives  on  the  island,  and  he  could  scarcely  encourage  the 
knight  of  the  goose  and  the  shears  to  remove  from  the 
capitol  of  cockneydom. 


140  EXTRAORDINARY  HEADGEAR. 

The  story  is  told  of  a  bridegroom  who  was  presented  on 
his  wedding-day  with  a  pair  of  European  trousers.  In  the 
exuberance  of  his  early  love,  he  presented  them  to  his  bride, 
who  appeared  at  the  wedding  ceremony,  heated  and  per- 
spiring, with  the  trousers  drawn  on  as  far  as  possible  over 
her  head,  while  the  legs  hung  down  like  two  huge,  hollow 
tails,  on  either  side. 

For  my  part  I  do  not  see  the  necessary  connection  of 
European  clothes  and  European  civilization.  The  nations 
can  be  civilized  and  christianized  just  as  quickly,  I  believe, 
while  allowed  to  wear  their  native  costume,  a  loose  piece 
of  cloth  tucked  about  the  waist,  as  when  arrayed  in  "  boiled 
shirts  "  and  swallow-tailed  coats. 

The  only  grotesque  and  ridiculous  natives  I  have  seen, 
are  those  who  ape  European  costumes  and  try  to  combine  in 
a  most  laughable  way  'New  York  and  South  Sea  Island 
fashions. 

The  islands  between  which  we  are  continually  passing, 
and  whose  sides  we  almost  graze  at  times,  abound  in  bright 
plumaged  birds,  parrots  and  paroquets,  lyre  birds  and  birds 
of  paradise  of  every  imaginable  lovely  hue. 

Beasts  of  prey  are  not  very  common,  though  tigers  and 
orang-outangs  are  found  in  some  of  the  large  islands,  and 
huge  crocodiles  abound  in  many  of  them.  Snakes,  however, 
are  numerous  and  venomous,  and  a  sharp  lookout  must  be 
kept  by  the  traveler,  lest  that  innocent-looking  fallen  limb, 
on  which  he  is  about  to  put  his  foot,  proves  to  be  a  huge 
python  or  boa  constrictor. 

A  famous  naturalist  tells  a  gruesome  story  about  a  great 
snake  which  he  found  in  the  thatched  roof  directly  over  his 
head  one  morning  as  he  awoke.  He  had  heard  a  rustling 
noise  the  night  before  but  paid  little  attention  to  it.  The 
next  morning,  however,  the  cause  of  the  noise  was  revealed. 


A  SNAKE  STORY.  141 

for,  "  looking  more  carefull}'^,"  he  says,  "  I  could  see  yellow 
and  black  marks  and  thought  it  must  be  a  tortoise  shell  put 
up  there  out  of  the  way  between  the  ridge-pole  and  the  roof. 
Continuing  to  gaze,  it  suddenly  resolved  itself  into  a  large 
snake,  comj)actly  coiled  up  in  a  knot ;  and  I  could  detect  his 
head  and  his  bright  eyes  in  the  very  center  of  the  folds. 

"  A  python  had  climbed  up  one  of  the  posts  of  the  house ; 
had  made  his  way  under  the  thatch  within  a  yard  of  my 
head,  and  taken  up  a  comfortable  position  in  the  roof,  and  I 
had  slept  soundly  all  night,  directly  under  him. 

"I  called  to  my  two  native  'boys'  who  were  skinning 
birds  below,  and  said,  'Here's  a  big  snake  in  the  roof;  but 
as  soon  as  I  had  shown  it  to  them  they  rushed  out  of  the 
house  and  begged  me  to  come  out  at  once. 

"Finding  they  were  too  much  alarmed  to  do  anything, 
we  called  some  of  the  laborers  in  the  plantation,  and  soon 
had  half-a-dozen  men  in  consultation.  One  of  these  said  he 
would  get  him  out,  and  went  to  work  in  a  business-like  way. 

"  He  made  a  strong  noose  of  rattan,  and  with  a  long  pole 
poked  at  the  snake,  which  then  began  slowly  to  uncoil  itself. 
He  then  managed  to  get  the  noose  over  its  head,  and  slip- 
ping it  well  over  its  body  began,  to  drag  the  animal  down. 

"  There  was  a  great  scuffle  as  the  snake  coiled  round  the 
chains  and  posts  to  resist  his  enemy,  but  at  length  the  man 
caught  hold  of  his  tail,  rushed  out  of  the  house  so  quickly 
that  the  creature  seemed  quite  confounded,  and  tried  to 
strike  its  head  against  a  tree.  He  missed  it,  however,  and 
let  go,  and  the  snake  got  under  a  dead  trunk  near  by.  It 
Avas  again  poked  out,  and  again  the  man  caught  hold  of  its 
tail,  and  running  away  quickly  dashed  its  head  with  a  swing 
against  a  tree,  and  it  was  then  easily  killed  with  a  hatchet. 

"It  was  about  twelve  feet  long  and  very  thick,  quite 
capable  of  swallowing  a  dog  or  child." 


142  "where  every  prospect  pleases." 

But  this  python  was  only  a  baby  compared  with  another 
which  this  same  veracious  naturalist  saw  a  little  later,  which 
was  not  less  than  twenty  feet  long,  and  fully  able  to  tackle 
an  ox  or  a  horse  if  it  got  the  chance. 

It  would  scarcely  be  proper  to  sail  through  this  serpent- 
infested  region  without  telling  at  least  one  snake  story,  but 
the  above,  vouched  for  b}^  the  highest  authority,  will  jier- 
haps  suffice. 

After  a  twenty-four  hours'  run  across  a  comparatively 
open  piece  of  water  ^ve  passed  between  the  Spanish  convict 
island  of  Mandanao  on  one  side,  and  Basilan  on  the  other. 
On  the  other  side  of  this  passage  we  found  the  open  waters 
of  the  Sulu  sea  awaiting  us,  and  then,  coasting  up  the  long 
shore  of  the  Philippine  islands,  we  have  come  at  length  out 
into  the  rough  waters  of  the  China  sea,  and  are  striking 
across  this  much-dreaded  passage  to  the  port  of  Hong  Kong. 

All  these  islands  Avhich  we  pass  are  famous  for  their 
spicy  tropical  j^roducts. 

"The  spicy  breezes"  blow  soft  not  only  over  Ceylon's 
isle,  but  across  Ceram  and  Bouro,  Banda  and  Amboyna, 
Mandanao  and  Basilan. 

Every  prospect  pleases  and  even  man  is  by  no  means  as 
vile  as  he  was  a  hundred  years  ago,  for  the  missionary  is 
abroad  in  most  of  these  islands,  the  natives  have  responded 
most  readily  to  his  kindly  touch,  and,  in  many  cases,  whole 
islands  are  Christianized  and  are  occupied  by  respectable. 
God-fearing,  church-going  races.  Even  the  degradation 
which  usually  follows  in  the  wake  of  commerce  has  not  been 
entirely  able  to  drag  down  these  simple  natives  to  the  level 
of  their  white  conquerors,  and  the  most  godless  trader  who 
knows  what  he  is  talking  about  can  sometimes  be  found  who 
will  acknowledge  that  the  missionary  has  transformed  many 
a  barbarous  tribe  of  cannibals  into  an  intelligent  people, 


WHAT    CHRISTIANITY    HAS   DONE.  143 

living  in  orderly  villages ;  in  pleasant,  whitewashed  houses, 
with  flowering  vines  growing  over  the  cool  verandas. 
Moreover,  in  some  places  good  roads  and  careful  cultivation 
of  the  soil  are  found,  all  due  to  races  that  have  emerged 
from  the  lowest  barbarism  within  the  memory  of  living 
men. 

I  would  like  to  take  some  of  the  shallow  worldlings 
whom  I  have  seen  elevate  their  tip-tilted  noses  at  missions, 
and  whom  I  have  heard  sneer  at  every  effort  to  make  the 
heathen  better,  I  would  like  to  take  them,  I  say,  to  some 
•of  the  beautiful,  orderly  villages  of  Celebes,  and  stop  their 
profane  lips  with  a  sight  of  what  Christianity  actually  has 
done  and  is  doing  for  these  savages.  I  am  doubtful  if  even 
this  vision  would  do  much  good.  Such  men  and  women  are 
too  densely  wrapped  up  in  their  impenetrable  conceit  to  be 
disturbed  by  facts  or  figures,  or  convinced  even  by  that 
which  their  own  eyes  might  observe.  They  would  not  be- 
lieve "though  one  rose  from  the  dead." 

Most  of  these  islands,  though  nominally  under  the  pro- 
tection and  control  of  different  European  powers,  to  which 
they  are  obliged  to  pay  some  small  tribute,  are  still  practi- 
cally under  the  power  of  these  native  chiefs  and  princes,  some 
of  whose  dynasties  run  back  for  many  generations. 

A  good  story  is  told  by  the  naturalist  Wallace  of  the 
way  in  which  one  of  these  native  chiefs  took  the  census  of 
his  unsuspecting  subjects. 

It  seems  that  this  chief  or  Rajah  relied  for  his  revenues 
upon  the  rice  tax  which  each  one  of  his  people  in  all  the 
villages  of  his  domain  was  supposed  to  pay  into  his  treasury 
-every  year.  But  he  soon  became  convinced  that  his  under 
officers  were  not  treating  him  fairly,  and  that  a  good  deal  of 
the  rice  which  ought  to  have  found  its  way  into  the  treasury 
■of  the  Rajah  was  stopped  on  the  way,  either  by  the  Kapala 


144      COMMUNING  WITH   THE   SPIRIT   OF  THE  VOLCANO. 

Kampong,  the  head  man  of  the  village,  or  by  the  Waidono 
who  is  over  the  district,  or  bv  the  Gustis  or  head  chief,  who 
received  the  rice  from  the  Waidono. 

But  the  Rajah  could  not  prove  the  peculations,  because 
he  did  not  know  how  many  people  there  were  in  his  domain, 
and  he  could  not  tell  how  many  people  there  were  unless  he 
took  a  census,  and  he  could  not  take  a  census  without  putting 
all  the  under  officers  on  their  guard,  for  they  would  be  sure  to 
make  the  number  of  people  in  their  districts  correspond  with 
the  amount  of  rice  which  they  turned  over  to  His  Majesty, 
So  his  problem  was  to  take  a  census  without  having  the 
people  who  were  enumerated  know  anything  about  it. 

The  poor  Rajah  was  at  his  wit's  end.  He  smoked  and 
chewed  betel  nut  all  day  long,  and  still  was  no  nearer  ta 
the  desired  solution.  At  length,  however,  a  bright  idea 
struck  him.  He  would  go  up  into  the  great  mountain  of 
Lombock  that  belched  out  fire  and  vapor,  and  consult  the 
deity  of  the  mountain,  for  it  was  in  the  old  days  of  heathen 
superstition  and  heathen  Avorship.  The  awe-struck  people 
followed  him  part  way  up  the  volcano,  and  then  they  dared 
to  go  no  further.  But  the  Rajah  pressed  on  up  into  the 
region  of  perpetual  smoke,  and  here  he  stayed  for  a  long 
while,  communing  with  the  Great  Spirit  of  the  mountain. 

When  his  people  who  were  waiting  about  the  base  of  the 
mountain  began  to  be  thoroughly  uneasy  about  their  chief, 
he  appeared  again  among  them,  and  told  them  in  solemn 
tones  that  the  Great  Spirit  had  revealed  to  him  that  a  time 
of  terrible  pestilence  was  coming,  and  that  the  only  way  tO' 
avert  the  pestilence  was  to  make  twelve  sacred  krisses  or 
daggers,  to  be  sent,  in  case  of  need,  to  the  plague-stricken 
villages.  Moreover,  these  krisses  must  be  of  a  peculiar  kind^ 
made  of  a  great  number  of  needles,  each  needle  represent- 
ing one  man  or  woman  or  child  in  his  domain. 


THE   TELLTALE  NEEDLES.  145 

There  must  be  no  mistake,  either,  in  the  number  of 
needles,  for,  if  there  was,  the  krisses  would  not  avail,  and 
the  plague  could  not  be  averted. 

So  the  Gusti  and  the  Waidonos  and  the  Kapala  Kam- 
pongs  went  to  work  very  busily  to  collect  in  their  different 
villages  a  needle  from  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  all 
of  Lombock,  and  they  were  very  careful  not  to  make  any 
mistake,  for  fear  the  kris  would  not  work  properlv.  At 
length  the  needles  were  all  collected,  and  were  welded  into 
bright,  shining  daggers  before  the  Rajah's  own  eyes,  and 
then  carefully  wrapped  in  silk  and  laid  away  for  use  against 
the  time  of  pestilence. 

The  pestilence  did  not  come,  however,  but  the  time  of 
the  rice  harvest  did  come ;  and  when  only  a  small  quantity 
of  rice  was  presented  by  any  Gustis,  the  Rajah  mildly  re- 
marked that  "  there  were  five  thousand  needles  sent  from 
your  province,  and  it  ought  to  yield  far  more  rice  than 
this."  Then  the  Gustis  said  the  same  thing  to  his  Waidonos, 
and  the  "Waidonos  repeated  the  remark  to  the  Kapala  Kam- 
pongs ;  and  the  result  was  that  the  following  year  the  Rajah 
had  four  times  as  much  rice  as  ever  before,  and  he  was  able 
to  give  all  his  wives  beautiful  earrings,  and  to  buy  many 
more  black  horses  from  the  white-skinned  Dutchmen  than 
ever  in  the  past  —  all  by  reason  of  the  remarkable  interview 
he  had  with  the  Great  Spirit  in  the  mountain  that  sent  out 
fire  and  smoke. 

I  have  spoken  already  of  the  human  passengers  of  the 
Chingtu  —  the  Chinamen,  and  Malays,  Jews,  Christians,  and 
Bushmen.  Besides  these,  we  have  some  dumb  passengers 
who  are  quite  as  interesting  in  their  way.  Among  them  a 
flock  of  merino  sheep  that  were  unceremoniously  tied  to- 
gether by  their  four  legs  and  bundled  overboard  into  a 
lighter  at  Thursday  Island ;  a  dog  whose  master,  the  cattle- 


146  OUR  DUMB  PASSENGERS. 

drover,  was  taking  into  the  bush  to  herd  sheep  and  fight 
the  Blacks. 

But,  poor  fellow,  he  scarcely  held  up  his  head  after  com- 
ing aboard.  A  kick  or  bruise  of  some  kind  just  before  em- 
barkation had  injured  him  internally.  He  bore  his  pain, 
which  was  evidently  intense,  without  a  whimper  or  a  groan 
for  seven  days,  and  on  the  eighth  day  turned  his  patient, 
aif ectionate  eyes  upon  his  master  with  a  look  of  trustful  love 
for  the  last  time  —  and  died. 

"  I  can't  bear  to  go  aft  any  more  where  my  poor  dog 
lay,"  said  the  cattle-drover,  and  I  didn't  wonder. 

Besides  the  dog  and  sheep,  we  had,  at  the  beginning,  sev- 
eral specimens  of  the  feline  tribe.  Two  or  three  forlorn 
little  kittens  haunted  the  steerage  belonging  to  the  China- 
men. For  two  or  three  days  they  prowled  disconsolately 
about,  evidently  aware  of  the  fate  that  awaited  them,  and 
then  they  mysteriously  disappeared,  leaving  no  trace  behind. 
The  gastronomic  Chinaman  could,  perhaps,  have  explained 
their  disappearance,  for  all  is  soup  that  comes  to  his  pot. 

But  besides  these  wretched,  woe-begone  little  kittens,  we 
had  on  board  a  magnificent,  stately,  tortoise-shell  cat,  as 
handsome  a  jDUssy  as  ever  trod  a  ship's  quarter  deck.  He 
would  watch  the  second-class  passengers  at  their  meals  in  a 
very  dignified  way,  and  would  even  accept  a  gratuity  from 
their  hands  in  the  shape  of  a  savory  titbit,  once  in  a  while. 
He  would  jump  through  our  extended  arms,  and  do  every 
trick  that  a  well-educated  pussy  is  supposed  to  know.  One 
evening  the  northeast  monsoon  was  blowing  a  stiff  gale,  and 
had  spattered  up  the  salt  spray  until  every  rail  was  wet  and 
slippery.  Tommy  Avas  unusually  frisky.  He  jumped  from 
spar  to  hatchway,  ran  up  the  rigging,  and  worked  off  his 
high  spirits  in  every  way  known  to  a  cat.  But,  alas !  he 
jumped  once  too  often,  for  leaping  from  the  hatch  to  the 


A  TRAGEDY   ON   ELECTION   DAY.  147 

guard  rail,  he  lost  his  balance,  clawed  for  a  moment  help- 
lessly at  the  wet,  slippery  wood,  and  fell  off  into  the  engulf- 
ing sea. 

It  is  hoped  that  some  passing  shark  cut  short  his  misery, 
and  that  he  was  not  obliged  to  struggle  for  hours  with  the 
waves,  drowning  by  inches. 

That  day  was  Election  day  in  the  United  States.  The 
mighty  quadrennial  struggle  between  the  two  great  parties 
was  being  decided  as  the  hours  went  by.  To  the  English- 
men, Australians,  and  Chinese,  who  made  up  our  passenger 
list,  this  struggle  was  absolutely  uninteresting.  Though  it 
affects  the  lives  of  nearly  seventy  millions  of  people,  it  did 
not  create  as  much  excitement  as  the  death  of  a  tortoise-shell 
cat.  Such  is  the  relative  importance  of  an  event.  So  de- 
pendent is  it  on  geography  and  ethnography. 

Our  captain  had  a  vague  idea  that  one  or  the  other  of 
the  leading  candidates  had  before  been  nominated  for  elec- 
tion. When  I  explained  that  one  of  the  candidates  was  then 
president,  and  the  other  had  held  tliat  office,  he  was  quite 
amazed,  but  remarked :  "  Oh,  well,  hit  wont  make  much 
hodds,  I  suppose,  they're  both  proper  rascals." 

I  resented  the  imputation  against  these  excellent  and 
honorable  men  with  the  utmost  warmth,  and  yet  it  is  of 
little  use  to  wax  hot,  for  the  ingrained  and  unremovable 
British  opinion  of  American  politics  is,  that  all  our  politicians 
are  rogues  and  knaves.  I  scarcely  wonder  at  this,  for  the 
British  press  does  its  utmost  to  foster  this  impression,  and 
our  own  sensational  journals,  with  their  scurrilous  attacks 
on  public  men,  only  strengthens  the  same  impression. 

Three  davs  more  with  this  gentle  monsoon  blowing 
across  the  wide  China  Sea  will  bring  us  to  Hong  Kong,  and 
then  the  cruise  of  the  Chingtu  will  be  ended. 


CHAPTER  YIIL 

FIRST  GLIilPSES  OF  THE  CELESTIAL  EMPIRE. 

Cosmopolitan  Hong  Kong  —  The  Cabmen  of  the  Orient  —  A  Ride  in  a 
Sedan  Chair  —  Uplifted  in  Spirit  —  Sidewalk  Shops  —  Pennsylvania  Oil 
in  China  —  Fairyland  under  the  Lanterns  —  Incense  Offerings  to  the 
Gods  —  Novel  Sights  and  Scenes  —  Oriental  Sharpers  —  Unblushing 
Swindlers  —  Toboggan  Sliding  —  All  Aboard  for  Canton  —  Justice 
Swift  and  Severe  —  Executions  in  China  —  Heads  Chopped  off  with 
Neatness  and  Despatch  —  The  River  God  at  the  Prow  —  The  Fatshan  — 
River  Robbers  and  Pirates  —  A  Floating  Arsenal  —  The  Rice  Harvest  — 
Threshing  Out  the  Rice  —  "Chinaman  Makee  Glow"  —  Three  Crops  in 
a  Season  —  Water  Buffaloes — Christianity  and  Butter  —  Up  the  Pearl 
River  —  Junks  and  Flower  Boats,  Sampans  and  Slipper  Boats  —  The 
High  Road  of  Canton  —  A  Novel  Pontoon  Bridge  —  A  Family  Picture 
—  Cantonese  Jade  —  Off  in  a  Sampan. 


UST  as  the  sun  was  setting  after 
a  gray  and  turbulent  day,  the 
Chingtu  reached  the  outer  har- 
bor of  Hong  Kong.  The  waning 
light  held  out  barely  long  enough 
to  discover  our  anchorage  ground, 
"What  a  sight  was  the  first  glimpse 
of  life  in  Asia !  On  the  Hong 
Kono;  shore  were  thousands  of 
twinkling  lights,  reaching  far  up 
the  hillside.  The  magnificent 
warehouses  and  residences  of  the 
foreign  merchants  give  it  the  appearance  of  a  modern  city,  as 
indeed  it  is,  but,  together  with  this  modern  and  cosmopolitan 
air  is  mingled  the  antiquity  of  the  far  East.  On  every  side 
were  Chinese  junks,  whose  style  is  the  same  as  in  the  days  of 

( 148 ) 


ASIATIC   SIGHTS  AND   SOUNDS,  149 

the  Mayjioioei\  of  the  Pinta^  and  the  Nina ;  the  same 
in  fact  as  Avhen  the  Roman  galleys  vexed  the  waters  of 
the  Mediterranean. 

Little  boats,  too,  sampans  and  still  smaller  row-boats, 
swarmed  .  about  the  Chingtu.  As  it  was  now  growing 
dark  they  were  all  illumined  with  Chinese  lanterns  of  every 
variety  of  style  and  shape,  and  yells  and  cries,  and  invita- 
tions from  the  occupants  to  take  their  boat  to  the  shore, 
reminded  us  of  the  vociferous  cabbies  at  the  Grand  Central 
Station  in  New  York.  But  there  was  little  else  to  remind 
us  of  New  York.     We  had  indeed  reached  the  Orient. 

Taking  a  steam-launch  sent  out  by  the  Hong  Kong 
Hotel  we  were  soon  on  shore.  Then  all  the  sights  and 
sounds,  to  say  nothing  of  the  smells,  reminded  us  that  we 
were  on  Asiatic  soil.  A  crowd  of  jinrikisha  and  sedan  chair 
men  besieged  us  on  every  side.  A  throng  of  half-naked 
coolies  jabbered  and  crowded  and  fought  w^ith  each  other 
and  insisted  on  being  our  porters.  But,  though  it  required 
some  rough  usage  on  the  part  of  the  hotel  porters,  we  at  last 
escaped  their  clutches  and  reached  the  hotel,  which  is  but 
a  few  steps  from  the  landing.  A  European  hotel,  however, 
Avas  altogether  too  commonplace  an  affair  to  engage  our 
attention  for  any  length  of  time,  and  after  we  had  taken 
a  hasty  dinner  we  were  soon  upon  the  street  again. 

Will  you  not  go  out  with  us  while  we  view  these  unac- 
customed sights  ? 

Now  again  as  we  step  out  of  the  hotel  door,  there  is  a 
great  hubbub  and  huUaballoo,  for  scores  of  chair-men  and 
jinrikisha-men  rush  upon  us  as  their  right  and  lawful  prey. 
Let  us  take  a  chair  this  evening  since  it  is  more  in  accord- 
ance with  the  genius  of  the  country.  The  jinrikisha  is  a 
Japanese  institution  and  a  very  recent  importation  into 
China,  and  we  will  patronize  home  industries. 


150  THE   BURDEN   BEARERS. 

So,  witli  many  polite  gestures  and  genuflections  on  the 
part  of  our  bearers,  we  crawl  into  one  of  the  little  boxes? 
take  our  seats,  and  are  immediately  hoisted  upon  the 
shoulders  of  three  stalwart  coolies,  two  in  front  and  one  be- 
hind. The  skin  on  their  accustomed  necks  is  hardened  and 
calloused  by  many  such  loads  which  they  have  borne,  and  at 
first  a  feeling  of  great  compassion  and  pity  for  them  arises 
in  our  hearts,  as  though  we  were  treating  human  beings  as 
we  would  treat  a  horse  or  an  ox.  We  almost  feel  as  though 
we  ought  to  step  down  from  our  exalted  position  and  apolo- 
gize to  the  bearers  for  loading  them  down  as  we  would 
"  dumb,  driven  cattle."  But,  after  all,  the  sensible  traveler 
reasons  with  himself,  this  is  an  honorable  and  reputable  way 
of  earning  a  living,  No  opprobrium  or  disgrace  attaches  to 
the  palanquin-man.  He  would  bear  the  people  of  his  own 
race  and  station  in  society  as  quickly  as  he  would  bear  the 
Emperor,  and  would  have  no  sense  of  degradation.  It 
affords  a  great  multitude,  who  perhaps  would  otherwise 
starve,  an  excellent  living.  So  we  will  dismiss  our  scruples 
and  enjoy  the  novel  sights  around  us. 

Then,  perhaps,  so  sharp  are  the  revulsions  of  feeling  in 
weak  human  nature,  one  begins  to  have  a  wealthy  and 
lordly  feeling,  as  though  he  w^ere  being  borne  through  the 
streets  on  the  shoulders  of  an  admiring  crowd  because  of 
some  great  achievement.  However,  the  throngs  are  not 
very  demonstrative  in  their  admiration,  for  they  take  no 
more  notice  of  you  than  a  New  York  crowd  would  take  of  a 
Broadway  street-car.  In  fact,  we  who  are  perched  up  in 
these  chairs  are  far  more  interested  in  the  crowds  beneath 
than  they  are  in  us,  for  foreigners  are  no  novelty  in  Hong 
Kong. 

Let  us  go  down  to  the  Chinese  quarter  and  get  out  of 
this  humdrum  European  life  as  soon  as  possible.     It  does 


OUT-OF-DOOR  AVOCATIONS. 


151 


not  take  us  long  to  do  this,  for  there  are  only  eight  thou- 
sand foreigners  in  the  city  and  some  two  hundred  thousand 
natives.  Everything  is  of  interest  to  our  unaccustomed  eyes. 
But  we  must  record  our  impressions  quickly  before  custom 
dulls  the  edge  of  amazement,  or  it  Avill  seem  as  though  we 


A    CHINESE    FORGE. 


had  always  lived  in  the  midst  of  these  sights,  and  shall  not 
be  able  to  describe  them  with  any  vividness  to  our  friends  at 
home. 

The  first  thing  that  strikes  us  as  strange  is,  that  every- 
thing  is  done  out-of-doors.  The  slioemaker  cobbles  his 
shoes  ;  the  lish  merchant  peddles  his  fish  ;  the  cabinet-maker 
fits  together  his  chest  of  dra'wers ;  the  tailor  shoves  his 
needle ;  the  carpenter  draws  his  plane  (toward  himself  in 
genuine  Chinese  style),  but  all  upon  the  sidewalk  as  it 
seems.      There  are,  to  be  sure,   small  recesses   which   are 

10 


152  LANTERNS  AND  INCENSE. 

called  stores  and  shops,  but  they  are  very  diminutive  and 
scarcely  seem  necessary  to  the  carrying  on  of  business. 

Over  every  shop  door  hangs  a  ])aper  lantern,  some  of 
them  huge  affairs  as  big  as  small  balloons,  others  more  mod- 
est in  size,  while  here  and  there  one  sees  a  vulgar  kerosene 
lamp.  It  is  said  that  the  oil  wells  of  Pennsylvania  are  driv- 
ing the  old-fashioned  lanterns  out  of  the  market.  All  who 
desire  picturesqueness  of  effect  will  certainly  regret  this,  for 
there  is  nothing  which  gives  the  streets  such  a  charming, 
fairy-like  effect  as  the  Chinese  lanterns,  painted  in  every  hue 
of  the  rainbow,  and  twisted  into  every  conceivable  shape. 

]^ot  only  has  every  shop  its  lantern,  but  every  shop  has 
its  shrine  as  well,  and  the  smell  of  burning  incense  pervades 
the  air  wherever  we  go.  This  is  rather  fortunate,  perhaps, 
for  it  obscures  certain  other  odors  which  are  not  so  pleasant. 

If  you  look  closely,  even  in  the  darkness  of  this  first  even- 
ing's ride,  you  will  see  a  stick  of  incense  burning  beside 
every  doorway,  the  little  spot  of  fire  at  the  end  glowing  like 
a  tiny  jewel  in  the  night.  These  are  all  offered  to  the  gods 
of  prosperity  and  good  luck  in  the  hope  that  the  business 
ventures  carried  on  within  will  turn  out  successfullv. 

But  after  all,  novel  as  are  the  sights  about  Hong  Kong, 
it  is  one  of  the  least  interesting  cities,  in  many  respects,  in 
all  China.  It  is  too  much  Europeanized  to  afford  a  true  idea 
of  the  way  in  which  the  natives  live  and  conduct  their  busi- 
ness. It  has  all  the  vices  of  a  city  in  the  far  East,  and  not 
all  its  virtues  by  any  means.  Everything  is  frightfully  dear 
at  the  European  stores,  and  in  this  free-trade  possession  of 
Great  Britain,  the  shop-keepers  will  unblushingly  charge  you 
four  or  five  times  as  much  as  an  article  is  worth  anywhere 
else.  The  hotel-keepers  will  fleece  3'ou  out  of  your  last 
dollar  if  they  can.  Photographers  will  charge  you  as  much 
for  a  single  picture  as  would  buy  a  dozen  better  ones  in 


ASCENT   OF  VICTORIA  PEAK.  153 

Japan ;  and  your  morning  paper,  which  will  cost  you  ten 
cents,  will  not  contain  a  farthing's  worth  of  news.  Nothing 
more  barren  and  meager  and  utterlv  uninteresting  than  the 
Hong  Kong  newspaper  has  it  been  my  lot  to  find  in  any 
part  of  the  civilized  or  uncivilized  world. .  Society  is  decid- 
edly "  fast,"  as  in  all  such  foreign  settlements,  and  were  it  not 
for  the  saving  salt  of  missionary  life  and  influence,  I  am  told 
by  those  who  know,  Ilong  Kong,  and  Yokohama  in  Japan, 
and  other  such  treaty  ports,  might  easily  out-rank  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah  and  the  Cities  of  the  Plain. 

There  is  one  place,  however,  which  we  must  visit  before 
leaving  Hong  Kong  for  the  far  more  interesting  city  of 
Canton,  and  that  is  Victoria  Peak,  which  towers  up  for  a 
thousand  feet  or  more  directly  behind  the  city.  This  is  a 
beautiful,  conical  mountain,  exceedingly  steep  and  precipi- 
tous, but  the  way  up  has  been  made  easy  by  a  cog-wheel 
railroad,  which  affords,  certainly,  the  most  abrupt  climb 
with  which  I  am  acquainted.  Far  steeper  than  the  Pigi  or 
the  Mt.  Washington  railroad  or  Pike's  Peak  is  the  railroad 
that  climbs  Victoria  Peak.  Nervous  women  sometimes 
grow  quite  hysterical  as  the  train  begins  to  move  up  an 
incline  steeper  than  the  roof  of  a  house.  But  the  railway  is 
managed  with  great  skill  and  with  every  precaution  to  insure 
safety,  and  there  has  never  been  here  any  loss  of  life,  so  far 
as  I  know. 

As  one  climbs  this  famous  mountain,  a  magnificent  pano- 
rama unfolds  before  him,  of  city  and  sea,  of  embracing 
mountains  and  yet  higher  distant  peaks.  Every  view  is  a 
little  more  entrancing  than  the  last,  until  one  stands  at  the 
very  summit.  Then,  on  every  hand,  is  a  landscape  which 
one  can  expect  to  see  but  seldom  in  a  lifetime.  Such  a  vast 
and  stupendous  combination  of  ocean  and  mountain  is  almost 
worth  a  stormy  journey  across  the  Pacific  to  behold. 


154  BY   BOAT   TO   CANTON. 

"We  have  reached  the  spot  near  the  top  where  the  rail- 
road stops,  and  where  our  foot-journey  begins,  unless  we 
choose  to  take  a  sedan-chair,  which,  for  thirty  cents,  will 
carry  us  to  the  topmost  point.  "VVe  refused,  however,  to  be 
borne  up  this  magnificent  mountain  in  any  such  ignominious 
way.  The  chair  is  all  very  well  for  level  ground,  or  for  get- 
ting through  the  crowded  streets ;  but  the  true  mountain 
climber  would  feel  ashamed  of  himself  to  be  borne  aloft  on 
men's  shoulders  up  these  rugged  paths  as  long  as  he  has  two 
good  legs  to  carry  him.  The  road,  though  very  steep,  is 
well  made,  and  affords  so  many  exquisite  views  from  every 
angle  and  turn  of  the  twenty  minutes'  climb  to  the  peak 
that  it  is  a  continual  delight. 

But  the  wind  is  blowing  shrewdly  from  the  top,  and  we 
do  not  linger  long,  even  though  the  view  is  entrancing  ;  but 
soon  descend,  take  the  train  once  more,  and  in  eight  min- 
utes slip  down  this  tremendous  toboggan-slide  on  to  level 
ground  again. 

To-morrow  morning  we  will  take  the  river-boat  for  Can- 
ton, a  journey  of  about  one  hundred  miles,  and  one  which 
affords  us  vast  delight.  The  steamers  on  the  Pearl  River 
are  excellent  side-wheel  boats,  not  unlike  the  best  river-boats 
in  America,  officered  by  Europeans,  though  manned  by 
Chinese  crews.  There  are  some  things  about  them,  how- 
ever, which  would  remind  us  that  we  are  still  in  China.  At 
the  prow  is  a  large  image  which  I  took  for  a  figure-head,  but 
was  soon  informed  that  it  was  the  river-god,  who  must  be 
propitiated  even  by  this  modern  steamship  company ;  so 
they  had  placed  his  obese  figure  in  a  little  shrine  at  the 
very  prow  of  the  Fatshan. 

Looking  within  the  cabin,  too,  we  see  a  stack  of  rifles, 
and  are  assured  by  the  Captain  that  they  are  necessary  in 
case  the  boat  should  be  attacked  by  the  river  pirates  —  a  not 


FLOATING  ARSENALS. 


155 


inconceivable  impossibility,  A  few  months  ago  one  of  these 
steamers  was  captured  by  a  swarm  of  these  robbers,  who 
had  come  aboard  as  second-class  passengers.  The  officers 
were  overpowered,  and  the  passengers  were  shut  up  in  a 
tight  and  close  cabin,  where  they  barely  had  air  enough  to 


A   CHINESE   EXECUTION. 
(From  an  instantaneous  photograph.) 

keep  them  alive,  while  their  pocketbooks  were  rifled  and  the 
steamer  plundered  by  these  systematic  knaves  of  every  pos- 
sible thing  of  value.  Then  they  took  themselves  off,  mak- 
ing sure  that  they  should  not  be  pursued  until  they  had 
gotten  well  out  of  the  way.  Chinese  passengers  are  not 
now  allowed  in  the  first  cabin,  and  every  steamer  goes  Avell 
armed  with  a  small  arsenal  of  modern  weapons. 


15G 


CHINESE  EXECUTION. 


Swift  justice  is  dealt  out  to  Chinese  criminals,  and  only 
a  short  time  elapses  after  sentence  before  the  head  of  the 
condemned  person  is  severed  from  the  body  by  a  single 
stroke  of  the  executioner's  keen  sword. 

Prisoners  under  sentence  of  death  wear  bamboo  yokes 
when  they  are  taken  to  the  place  of  execution.     The  head 


PLACING   THE   HEAD   OP   AN   EXECUTED   CRIMINAL   IN   A  BASKET. 

(From  an  instantaneous  photograph.) 

of  the  prisoner  is  placed  between  two  rigid  bamboo  bars, 
one  in  front  and  the  other  at  the  back  of  the  neck,  whil0 
two  shorter  bars  rest  across  the  shoulders  and  fasten  the 
long  side  bars  together.  The  headsman  accompanies  the 
procession  to  the  field  of  execution,  holding  his  blade  aloft, 
followed  by  a  crowd  of  spectators.  The  execution  is  public, 
and  generally  takes  place  in  an  open  field  accessible  to  all. 


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UP  THE   PEARL  RIVER. 


159 


The  prisoner  kneels,  bends  forward  a  trifle,  bows  his  head, 
and  in  an  instant  all  is  over. 

The  sail  up  the  river  is  a  most  interesting  one,  following 
the  windings  of  the  great  stream,  which  sometimes  broadens 
out  into  a  lake  miles  upon  miles  in  extent,  and  sometimes 


COOLIES  PUMPING   WATEfe  FOR  RICE   FIELDS. 

narrows  again  with  frowning  peaks  close  overhead.  Every- 
where are  the  swarming  villages  —  thirty  thousand,  I  am 
told,  in  a  single  province  —  each  one  occupied  by  from  one 
to  ten  thousand  people. 

The  rice  crop  was  just  being  cut  as  we  sailed  up  this 
noble  river,  and  down  to  the  ver}^  verge  hung  the  ripened 
grain  on  heavy  stalks.     This  was  the  second  crop  of  tho 


IGO  PRIMITIVE   METHOD   OF   HARVESTING. 

year,  and  laborers,  men  and  women,  were  busy  everywhere 
harvesting  it  —  just  as  for  three  thousand  years  past,  per- 
haps, their  ancestors  had  harvested  a  similar  cro]).  After 
cutting  the  rice-straw  near  the  ground  with  a  small  sickle 
and  piling  it  in  heaps,  they  grasp  a  good-sized  handful  of 
the  grain  and  thresh  out  the  rice  by  the  simple  process  of 
beating  the  heads  ,over  the  edge  of  a  stone  or  a  piece  of 
board  armed  with  iron  teeth.  A  little  screen  keeps  the  rice 
from  flying  far  in  any  direction,  and  on  both  sides  we 
could  see  hundreds  of  these  little  screens  and  these  primitive 
harvesters  gathering  the  great  staple  crop  of  China. 

Wonderful  gardeners  are  these  Cantonese  in  any  part  of 
the  world.  "Whether  in  America  or  Australia,  the  Sandwich 
Islands  or  on  their  own  native  heath,  they  can  coax  the 
ground  to  yield  to  them  what  she  would  never  give  up 
to  the  more  civilized  races,  who,  perhaps,  look  down  on 
them  as  ignorant  barbarians.  Even  in  tropical  Australia,  in 
the  dryest  of  the  dry  seasons,  they  can  make  things  grow  if 
onl}^  water  can  be  had  with  which  to  drench  the  soil.  "  Me 
no  likee  lain,"  said  a  Chinaman  to  me ;  "  lainey  time  anyone 
laise  things  ;  dly  time  only  Chinaman  makee  glow." 

But  here  along  the  banks  of  the  great  river  they  find 
not  only  plenty  of  water,  but  a  most  fertile  soil,  and  any 
Chinaman  who  does  not  get  at  least  three  crops  off  of  every 
inch  of  land  which  he  possesses  is  thoroughly  ashamed  of 
himself.  Two  crops  of  rice  and  one  of  vegetables  is  the 
regulation  thing,  while  some  farmers  force  even  four  crops 
every  year  from  the  same  piece  of  ground. 

Another  interesting  feature  of  the  landscape  is  the  huge 
water-buffaloes  which  love  to  wallow  along  the  banks  of  the 
river.  They  look  more  like  the  rhinoceros  than  like  the 
buffalo  of  our  plains,  with  thick  welts  of  hairy  skin  hanging 
on  their  sides  and  legs.     However,  they  are  a  very  useful 


AT    THE    WHARF   IN    CANTON.  161 

animal,  though  rather  hideous  in  appearance.  They  are 
employed  in  plowing  and  working  the  rice  fields,  and  afford 
an  excellent  milk  which  is  used  by  the  foreign  residents  ot 
Canton  and  vicinity,  where  there  are  no  cows.  The  Chinese 
themselves,  however,  after  they  are  weaned,  have  no  use  for 
food  of  this  sort,  and  look  upon  the  rest  of  us,  I  suppose,  as 
poor  "  milk-sops "  for  demanding  it  on  our  tables  morning, 
noon,  and  night. 

ISTor  can  they  understand  how  we  find  it  difficult  to 
exist  without  butter  and  cheese.  A  recently  converted 
Chinaman,  explaining  to  his  neighbors  the  joys  of  Christian- 
ity, said  to  them,  "  Kow  Christianity  is  not  like  butter,  for 
you  have  to  learn  to  like  that  before  you  can  eat  it.  It  is 
horrid  tasting  stuif  when  you  first  try  it,  and  you  can  only 
endure  it  after  a  good  many  efforts.  But  Christianity  is 
something  that  you  do  not  have  to  learn  to  like.  It  is  just 
as  good  the  first  time  you  taste  it  as  it  is  the  last."  A  good 
hint  here  for  public  speakers  to  adapt  their  illustrations  to 
the  people  who  listen  to  them. 

But  all  this  time  we  are  sailing  up  the  great  Pearl  river, 
with  its  interminable  rice  fields  and  its  clustering  villages 
nestling  behind  them  at  the  base  of  the  mountains. 

At  last  the  Fatshan  reaches  her  wharf  in  Canton,  and 
we  find  ourselves  at  once  in  one  of  the  strangest  and  most 
remarkable  cities  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Around  us  are 
swarming  junks  and  flower-boats,  sampans  and  slipper-boats 
of  all  sizes,  as  thickly  as  their  struggling  owners  can  crowd 
about  the  Fatshan. 

They  row  and  pole,  and  hook  on  to  their  neighbors  and 
grab  our  steamer's  chains  in  their  mad  and  eager  scramble 
to  get  some  passengers  or  freight  for  other  parts  of  the  city; 
for  this  great  river  is  the  high  road  for  all  Canton.  Fully 
seventy-five  thousand  people  live  in  these  boats  on  the  river 


1G2  HOME   LIFE   ON   A   SAMPAN. 

at  Canton  alone  all  the  year  round.  The  number  is  usually 
put  much  higher,  but  1  am  assured  that  this  is  a  very  mod- 
erate estimate. 

As  the  steamer  is  being  tied  up  to  her  dock  let  us  peer 
over  into  one  of  these  little  boats  that  is  struggling  to  get 
near  us.  It  is  like  a  thousand  others  that  are  wedged 
so  closely  together  that  one  could  easily  walk  for  miles  over 
their  little  roofed  decks  without  getting  his  feet  wet.  It 
seems  like  a  continuous  pontoon  bridge,  though  none  of  the 
boats  are  tied  together,  and  all  are  struggling  to  move  in 
some  direction  and  for  some  purpose. 

But  look  down  into  this  particular  sampan  which  w^e 
have  chosen  to  interview.  A  brawny  woman  wields  a  long, 
heavy  oar  in  front.  She  is  evidently  captain,  first  officer, 
and  cook,  as  well  as  chief  engineer  of  the  little  craft.  On 
her  back  is  strapped  a  baby  whose  little  head  bobs  and 
sways  with  every  motion  that  its  mother  makes  in  sculling 
the  boat.  The  handle  of  the  huge  sweep  which  she  uses  just 
escapes  the  top  of  his  bald  little  head.  Her  glossy  black 
hair  is  done  up  with  great  skill  and  neatness  into  the  shape 
of  a  "tea-pot  handle,"  as  a  little  boy  by  my  side  declares. 
Through  this  tea-pot  handle  is  stuck  a  green  jade  pin,  and  in 
both  ears  are  huge  jade  earrings.  Xo  woman  in  Canton 
seems  too  poor  to  afford  these  precious  jewels.  Of  all  the 
thousands  of  women  of  high  grade  and  low  whom  I  have 
seen  in  Canton,  I  scarcely  remember  one  without  the  na- 
tional jade  ornaments. 

On  the  stern  of  this  little  craft  are  four  children,  one  boy 
of  eight  years  of  age,  who,  manly  little  fellow  that  he  is, 
assists  his  mother  with  an  oar  three  times  as  long  as  him. 
self.  Another  boy  of  four  is  feeding  with  kernels  of  rice 
some  chickens  which  are  tied  bv  the  leg  to  one  side  of  the 
boat.     Still  another  little  olive  branch  that  can  just  toddle, 


CLOSE   QUARTERS. 


163 


and  is  possibly  two  years  old,  is  tied  by  a  string  to  the  roof 
of  the  deck,  which  allows  him  to  go  to  the  very  edge  of  the 
boat,  but  insures  his  being  pulled  in  if  he  should  happen  to 
fall  overboard.  In  the  stern  of  the  boat  also  are  all  the 
culinary  arrangements  for  the  family ;  all  the  pots  and 
kettles  and  crockery  ware  and  chop-sticks  that  are  needed 
for  a  family  of  six.  Behind  the  kitchen  is  the  shrine,  and  as 
the  door  is  open  we  can  get  a  peep  within  at  the  gilded  god, 
who  is  sitting  complacently  on  his  haunches,  while  two 
sticks  of  incense  are  burning  before  him. 

In  the  center  of  the  boat,  covered  with  a  low  roof,  are 
seats  on  two  sides  for  five  or  six  passengers,  for  it  is  the  bus- 
iness of  this  family,  while  the  husband  is  at  work  on  shore, 
to  get  all  the  passengers  it  can  and  to  eke  out  their  living  in 
this  way.  I  must  fall  back  on  a  general  reputation  which  I 
trust  I  have  for  sobriety  and  truthfulness  when  I  tell  you 
that  this  boat  by  actual  measurement  is  only  fourteen  feet 
long  and  four  feet  wide  in  the  widest  part.  Even  this 
sampan  is  larger  than  many  others  which  crowd  about  our 
steamer's  side,  but  it  looks  so  clean  and  roomy,  the  children 
look  so  good  natured,  and  the  mother  smiles  so  pleasantly, 
that  we  will  take  this  boat  and  give  the  woman  ten  cents  (a 
liberal  sum)  to  take  us  to  our  friends  some  two  miles  up  the 
river. 


{^"^ 


CHAPTER  IX. 

IN  CANTON  THE  CROWDED  — CHINA  AND  THE  CHINESE. 
—  CURIOUS  SCENES  AMONG  A  CURIOUS  PEOPLE  — IN 
THE   TEMPLE   OF   HORRORS. 

Ah  Cum,  Jr.  — A  Courteous  and  Faithful  Guide  —  Aimless  "Wandering  — 
The  Birthday  of  the  Fire  God  —  Turning  out  for  a  Sedan  chair —  Close 
Quarters  —  A  City  of  Temples  —  Streets  with  Odd  Names — "Lon- 
gevity Lane  "  —  "  Heavenly  Peace  Street "  —  A  Changing  Panorama  — 
Outrageous  Odors  —  A  Pestilential  Place  without  Pestilence  —  A  Puz- 
zle for  our  Doctors  —  People  who  Never  Heard  of  a  Plumber — The 
Live  Fish  Market  —  Candy  Stands  —  How  Much  can  you  Buy  for  a 
Cash  ?  —  Going  to  Market  in  Corea  —  A  Royal  Present  —  Juvenile 
Curiosity  —  That  Little  "Foreign  Devil  "  — The  Cat  and  Dog  Meat 
Store  —  The  Original  of  the  Willow  Pattern  —  The  Five  Hundred 
Buddhists  —  Worshiping  the  Gods  of  Good  Luck  and  Prosperity  — 
Business-like  Methods  of  Worship  —  The  Temple  of  Horrors — A 
Necklace  of  Teeth  —  Some  of  the  Tortures  —  Sawing  a  Man  in  Two  — 
Boiled  in  Oil  —  Punishments  of  the  Buddhist  Hell. 


E  were  exceeding  fortunate,  on  our 
arrival  at  Canton,  in  finding  the 
best  guide  it  has  ever  been  our 
good  fortune  to  secure.  Mr.  Ah 
Cum,  Jr.,  deserves  to  have  his 
name  embalmed  in  history.  Just 
before  our  visit  a  famous  Ameri- 
can traveler  had  visited  the  same 
city,  and  he  ^^'rote  in  the  guide's 
book,  a  la  Isaac  Walton :  "  Doubt- 
less God  could  make  a  better 
guide  than  Ah  Cum,  Jr.,  but 
doubtless  he  never  did."  "We  feel  like  endorsing  this  com- 
mendation to  the  fullest  extent  after  spending  a  few  hours 
in  Ah  Cum's   society.     He  not   only  knew  everything  in 

Canton,  but  could  speak  intelligent  English  to  explain  to  us 

(164) 


AN   ENDLESS  ARCADE.  165 

what  we  saw.  He  knew  how  to  keep  the  land  sharks  who 
snap  at  every  innocent  traveler  away  from  us,  and  though 
he  doubtless  piloted  us  to  stores  which  paid  him  a  good 
commission,  he  would  not  let  us  pay  more  than  twice  what 
a  thing  was  worth,  even  to  his  friends. 

As  we  take  this  journey  through  Canton's  crowded 
streets,  the  three  pilgrims  require  sedan  chairs,  with  another 
one  for  Ah  Cum,  Jr. ;  but  in  the  train  of  this  short  proces- 
sion we  can  take  a  hundred  thousand  of  you  just  as  well, 
without  crowding  anyone.  At  first  we  say  to  Ah  Cum 
that  we  do  not  wish  to  go  anywhere  m  particular  ;  "  just 
take  us  through  the  streets  ;  let  us  see  how  the  people  live, 
how  they  buy  and  sell  and  get  gain  ;  let  us  see  how  they 
pound  their  meal,  and  sell  their  fish,  and  make  their  shoes, 
and  shave  their  heads,  and  paint  their  pictures,  and  do  their 
ivory  work,  and  fashion  their  jewelry,  and  turn  out  their 
pottery."  It  is  not  necessary  to  stop  and  go  inside  of  any 
building  to  see  all  of  these  things,  for,  as  in  all  Chinese 
cities,  these  handicrafts  are  carried  on  in  shops  out  of  which 
the  front  has  been  completely  taken.  There  is  a  rear  wall 
to  these  shops  and  two  side  walls,  but  no  front  Avail  in 
the  daytime  ;  and  passing  through  the  streets  of  Canton 
seems  like  going  through  a  never-ending  arcade.  The  streets 
are  so  narrow  and  so  covered  overhead  with  awnings  and 
immense  signs  that  one  can  scarcely  realize  that  he  is  in 
the  open  air.  The  dim  light  streams  down  from  above,  mel- 
lowing and  tempering  even  the  most  hideous  things,  while 
the  gay  costumes  and  fabrics,  and  gold-lettered  signs,  give  a 
holiday  air  to  the  whole  city. 

Moreover,  it  is  the  birthday  of  the  Fire  God  when  we 
chance  to  go  through  the  city,  and  the  people  are  celebrat- 
ing his  nativity  with  an  unceasing  fusilade  of  firecrackers. 
"Whole  bunches  of  the  snappiest  kind  of  crackers  are  thrown 


166  CIVIL   ENGINEERING. 

recklessly  into  the  streets  under  the  very  feet  of  our  coolie 
bearers,  which  make  them  dance  and  caper,  though  they 
take  it  all  very  good-naturedly.  Each  of  us  on  this  journey 
has  three  bearers,  two  in  front  and  one  behind ;  and  the 
streets  are  so  narrow  that  it  is  with  the  greatest  difficulty 
that  two  chairs  can  pass  each  other.  Indeed,  when  two 
chairs  approach  from  opposite  directions  a  catastrophe  seems 
unavoidable,  but  somehow  or  other  it  is  always  avoided. 
The  people  flatten  themselves  against  the  walls  on  either 
side,  taking  up  as  few  cubical  inches  as  possible ;  and  at 
length,  oftentimes  with  a  good  deal  of  turning  and  twisting 
and  engineering,  the  chairs  coming  from  opposite  directions 
pass  one  another. 

Canton  contains  about  one  million  people,  so  conservative 
writers  say,  though  the  number  is  placed  by  many  at  a  far 
larger  figure.  As  the  more  accurate  census  of  later  years 
is  taken,  the  population  of  China  is  dwindling  somewhat, 
and  the  enormous  figures  that  were  believed  by  our  fore- 
fathers are  scarcelv  borne  out  bv  the  enumerators.  Peking 
is  not  so  enormously  large  as  has  been  supposed,  while 
Canton,.  Avhich  used  to  be  said  in  many  quarters  to  have 
two  millions  of  inhabitants,  is  found  to  have  only  about 
one  million.  However,  this  is  quite  enough  for  the  area 
that  is  inhabited. 

If  ever  people  were  packed  together  like  sardines  in  a 
box,  or  peas  in  a  pod,  it  is  in  this  same  city  of  Canton. 
]^o  superfluous  room,  as  I  have  said,  is  taken  up  by  the 
streets,  and  this  city  which,  if  it  was  spread  out  like 
"Washington  or  Melbourne,  or  even  New  York,  would  re- 
quire a  wall  something  like  one  hundred  miles  in  length, 
is  encompassed  by  a  wall  less  than  six  miles  in  circuit. 
This  wall  was  built  in  the  eleventh  century,  and  was 
finished  as  it  now  stands    more   than   five   hundred   years 


A  CURIOUSLY   CHANGING  PANORAMA.  107 

ago.  In  it  are  sixteen  gates,  besides  two  water  gates. 
Canton  became  a  port  of  foreign  commerce  more  than  a 
thousand  years  ao^o,  but  it  was  not  until  1637  that  a  fleet 
of  English  vessels  entered  the  river.  Since  then  the  trade 
has  largely  been  in  the  hands  of  the  English,  who  seem, 
in  Avhatever  part  of  the  world  they  go,  to  get  their  full 
share  of  the  g-ood  thinofs  of  this  life. 

There  are  125  temples  in  the  city  of  Canton,  and  every 
little  shop  has  its  altar,  before  Avhich  the  daily  incense  is 
burned.  I  am  told  that  more  is  spent  for  incense  and 
candles  at  these  altars  than  is  given  for  foreign  missions  for 
the  whole  world  by  the  great  Congregational  and  Presby- 
terian boards  of  the  United  States. 

Some  of  the  streets  through  which  we  pass  have  odd 
names  ;  for  instance,  one  of  them  is  "  Longevity  Lane "  ; 
another,  "  Heavenly  Peace  street,"  while  "  High  street "  and 
"  Market  street "  sound  verv  familiar.  I  wish  in  our  own 
country  Ave  mio;ht  have  more  streets  of  "  Benevolence  and 
Love."  We  will  at  least  pass  through  this  street  in  Canton, 
even  though  it  belies  its  names. 

We  shall  never  get  accustomed  to  this  constantly  chang- 
ing panorama ;  these  odd  people ;  these  queer  costumes ; 
these  strange  sights ;  these  outrageous  odors !  Cologne 
itself,  with  all  its  seventy  smells,  cannot  for  a  moment 
compare  with  Canton. 

It  is  a  wonder  that  the  people  are  not  exterminated  by 
typhoid  fever  and  diphtheria.  There  is  no  drainage  to 
speak  of,  and  what  little  there  is  lies  immediately  below  the 
flagstones  over  which  we  pass,  and  is  very  rarely,  if  ever, 
flushed  by  running  water.  Strange  to  say,  however,  we  are 
told  that  the  rate  of  mortality  is  not  especially  high  in  Can- 
ton ;  that  there  are  many  old  people  in  the  city  and  that  it  is 
not  often  visited  by  any   sweeping  pestilence.      What  will 


168  IGNORANT   OF  DRAINS  AND   CUT-OFFS. 

our  doctors  and  sanitary  engineers  and  plumbers,  who  make 
life  miserable  for  the  householder,  say  to  this  ? 

If  ever  we  have  a  little  scarlet  rash  in  the  house  among- 
the  children,  or  if  the  doctor  can  discover  a  white  patch  in 
our  throats,  he  at  once  declares  that  the  plumbing  is  out  of 
order  and  the  Health  Department  compels  us  to  rip  up  the 
floors  and  discover  the  cause  of  the  affliction  in  some  hidden 
and  undiscoverable  lead  pipe.  The  plumber  is  called  in  and 
he  declares  that  his  rival  who  plumbed  the  house  was  a  per- 
fect idiot  and  knew  nothing  about  sanitary  engineering. 
That  means  a  bill  of  several  hundred  dollars  for  the  most  im- 
proved style  of  pipes  and  traps  and  drains,  and,  as  likely  as 
not,  the  next  year  scarlet  fever  attacks  another  child  and 
a  white  patch  appears  on  the  other  side  of  our  throats.  Yet 
these  benighted  people  of  Canton,  who  never  heard  of  a 
plumber,  who  know  not  how  to  build  a  decent  drain,  and 
are  not  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  patent  traps,  cut-oflFs, 
and  counter  vents,  live  on  century  after  century  in  their  ill- 
drained,  foul-odored  city,  in  blissful  ignorance  of  what  they 
escape  by  not  being  sufficiently  civilized. 

Some  of  the  shops  which  interest  us  most  as  we  ]mss 
along  the  streets  are  the  fish  markets.  The  fish  are  all 
brought  to  the  market  alive  and  wriggling.  "When  a  cus- 
tomer comes  along,  he  picks  out  the  fish  which  he  fancies  in 
the  tank ;  the  dealer  dextrously  captures  him  with  a  net^ 
splits  and  beheads  him  in  sight  of  the  customer  who  goes  on 
his  way  rejoicing,  knowing  that  at  least  he  will  have  fresh 
fish  for  dinner. 

The  many  little  candy  stands  and  booths  for  selhng  nuts 
and  cakes  also  interest  us.  There  is  a  kind  of  soft  yellow 
cake  made  of  beans  which  is  greatly  affected  by  the  lower 
class  of  Chinese,  and  which  always  has  a  Chinese  character 
stamped  on  the  top  ;  there   are   peanut   venders  on  whose 


CHEAP   FOR    "CASH." 


169 


trays  are  arranged  little  piles  of  peanuts  wliich  are  worth 
one  "cash"  (one-tenth  of  a  cent)  each,  while  other  dealers 
confine  their  attention  to  betel  nuts,  of  which  they  carry 
a  stock  in  trade  consisting  of  half  a  dozen  nuts  cut  into 
quarters,  with  some  pungent  leaves  to  wrap  them  in  before 


FISHING   WITH  CORMORANTS. 


they  are  masticated.  In  other  places  we  find  row  after 
row  of  toy  shops  and  little  earthenware  establishments, 
where  the  largest  thing  of  value  will  cost  about  one  cent. 

In  fact,  it  would  be  interesting  to  see  how  many  things 
on  the  streets  of  Canton  could  be  bought  for  a  cash.  A 
collection  of  such  articles  would  fill  a  cabinet  with  rare 
curiosities.  But  let  not  anv  foreigner  think  he  could  make 
such  purchases.  The  thrift}^  Chinese  dealer  is  sure  that  the 
said  foreigner's  pockets  are  lined  with  gold  and  will  charge 
him  at  least  ten  times  the  true  value  of  any  article  desired. 
He  can  only  get  what  he  wants  at  a  reasonable  price  by 
sending  a  Chinaman  for  it  and  paying  him  a  commission  for 
buying  in  the  cheapest  market. 

In  the  large  stores  the  "cash"  is  not  very  much  used, 

but  small  silver  pieces,  pennies  and  huge,  dirty,  ragged  banl: 

bills ;  but  the  street  venders  and  cheap  Jacks  on  the  side- 
11 


170  A  COW-LOAD   OF   COINS. 

walk  trade,  for  the  most  part,  in  cash  alone,  and  one  needs 
to  carry  an  extra  sedan  chair  to  hold  his  money  if  he 
expects  to  make  many  purchases  with  these  cumbrous  coins. 
The  small  coinage,  however,  is  not  so  large  here  as  it  is 
in  Corea,  or  at  least  the  precious  metals  are  more  used.  I 
am  told  that  in  Corea  the  purchaser  who  goes  to  market 
drives  a  cow  before  him  to  carry  his  cash,  and  if  he  expects 
to  make  any  considerable  purchases,  he  must  load  two  cows 
with  the  necessary  money.  The  cows  carry  his  coins,  but 
he  can  carry  his  purchases  home  in  his  hands. 

The  royal  family  of  Corea,  it  is  said,  desired  to  make  a 
missionary  a  present  on  the  occasion  of  his  marriage,  since 
the  missionary  had  been  serviceable  to  the  emperor's  wife 
when  ill.  What  was  the  missionary's  surprise  to  find  six 
coolies  come  to  his  house  each  loaded  down  with  a  huge 
chest  of  money  which  was  all  they  could  stagger  under. 
When  he  came  to  count  his  treasure,  he  found  that  his  pres- 
ent was  a  generous  donation  of  $300,  all  in  copper  cash. 

As  we  go  along  the  streets  in  our  sedan  chairs,  we  excite 
a  srreat  deal  of  comment  and  ariiused  attention  from  the 
passers  by  and  from  the  store-keepers  as  well.  The  little 
Pilgrim,  especially,  attracts  the  notice  of  all  the  boys  and 
girls  in  Canton.  When  they  catch  sight  of  him  in  his  chair, 
they  chuckle  and  giggle  and  point  their  fingers  at  him,  and 
laugh  as  if  he  was  the  funniest  object  they  ever  beheld.  A 
little  imp  with  a  long  queue  will  scuttle  into  the  house  as  we 
go  by,  and  call  his  father  and  mother,  his  uncles  and  aunts, 
and  his  brothers  and  sisters  and  cousins,  to  look  at  that 
strange  cavalcade,  and  especially  at  that  little  "foreign 
devil,"  as  he  persists  in  calling  the  juvenile  Pilgrim. 

One  would  suppose  that  foreigners  were  so  numerous  in 
the  vicinity  of  Canton,  they  would  excite  no  interest,  but,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  comparatively  few  of  them  are  seen  on  the 


i 


AMUSING  CURIOSITIES. 


171 


streets  of  the  native  city.  Ladies  are  an  especial  curiosity, 
and  American  boys  are  evidently  most  amusing  and  long-to- 
be-remembered  creatures.  It  is  very  probable  that  some  of 
those  slant-eyed  little  Celestials  are  still  talking  about  that 
small  boy  in  the  Boston  High  School  cap,  and  those  absurd 
short  trousers  and  long  stockings,  and  that  queer  American 
reefer,  who  once  passed  through  their  streets. 


PRISONERS  IN   A  CANTON   JAIL. 


There  are  a  few  "  show  places  "  in  Canton,  as  there  are 
in  every  city,  which  the  traveler  must  not  neglect,  though  I 
must  say  that  I  always  prefer  first  to  get  an  idea  of  the  way 
the  common  people  live,  rather  than  to  be  dragged  from 
temple  to  pagoda,  and  from  pagoda  to  university  by  the 
eager  and  loquacious  guide.  But  that  is  one  of  Ah  Cum's 
good  points.  He  is  willing  that  you  should  see  what  you 
want  to  see,  and  will  not  insist  upon  your  seeing  only  what 
he  considers  wonderful.     He  lets  us  have  our  fill  of  Canton- 


172  grandmother's  blue  china. 

ese  sights  and  sounds  and  odors ;  he  is  willing  that  we 
should  gratify  our  curiosity  by  looking  into  very  humble 
and  insignificant  shops.  He  is  not  ashamed  of  us  if  we  stop 
to  glance  at  the  street  peddler,  and  he  does  not  frown  upon 
us  with  righteous  indignation  even  when  we  look  into  the 
cat  and  dog  meat  store.  Here  is  one  poor  pussy,  stitf  and 
cold,  and  singed  of  all  her  hair,  awaiting  a  customer.  A 
poor  puppy  that  has  departed  this  life,  looks  ghastly  since  he 
has  been  dressed  and  trussed  like  a  pig.  In  another  part  of 
the  store,  a  wicker  basket  contains  another  specimen  of  the 
feline  race,  which,  Ah  Cum  says,  will  be  sacrificed  at  noon, 
at  which  time  we  shall  see  a  great  many  more  cats  and  dogs 
if  we  happen  to  pass  that  way. 

First  in  viewing  Canton's  famous  sights,  let  us  go  into 
the  Guild  Hall  of  the  tea  merchants.  It  is  a  very  old 
affair,  and  the  carving  and  terra  cotta  work  is  exceedingly 
fine ;  but  we  are  especially  interested  in  a  little  garden 
behind  the  Guild  Hall,  for,  from  this  garden  the  famous 
willow  pattern  was  copied,  which  is  found  upon  the  blue 
china  ware  of  our  grandmothers  and  great-grandmothers. 
The  original  tree  which  gave  it  its  name  has  died,  but  the 
other  features  are  the  same  which  have  been  perpetuated  so 
many  scores  of  millions  of  times,  on  the  plates  and  cups  and 
saucers  and  teapots  and  teacups,  which,  in  the  olden  time, 
were  treasured  by  the  mothers  and  handed  down  to  the 
daughters  w^ith  such  scrupulous  care. 

From  the  Guild  Hall  let  us  go  into  the  temple  of  the  five 
hundred  Buddhists.  This  is  a  large  building  around  the 
walls  of  which  are  arranged  in  two  rows  great  gilt  images 
of  Buddhist  ancestral  divinities,  five  hundred  of  them  in  all. 
Everv  face  has  a  distinct  individualitv  of  its  own,  and  tliev 
all  have  long  ears  that  reach  down  almost  to  their  shoulders, 
like  a  turkey's  dewlaps.     These  long  ears  indicate  longevity. 


FIVE   HUNDRED   ANCESTRAL   GODS.  173 

"What  surprised  us  most  of  all,  was  to  find  Marco  Polo  in 
this  ffalaxv.  This  famous  traveler  has  been  admitted  to  the 
company  of  the  gods,  and  he  was  honored  with  a  stick  of 
burning  incense  on  the  day  we  were  in  the  temple,  which  was 
more  than  could  be  said  for  most  of  them.  I  think  if  I 
had  intended  to  burn  any  incense  in  that  temple,  I  should 
have  put  my  stick  in  the  little  sand  box  before  Marco  Polo 
also.  It  is  not  certain  that  the  features  of  this  image  resem- 
ble this  first  globe-trotter's,  for  whom  it  is  supposed  to  stand, 
but  it  is  probably  quite  as  authentic  as  many  of  the  pictures 
and  statues  of  the  famous  men  of  antiquity. 

One  other  old  fellow  among  the  gods  also  attracted  my 
attention.  He  had  eyebrows  that  reached  almost  down  to 
his  chin,  and  from  all  that  I  could  gather,  he  was  famous 
chiefly  for  his  eyebrows,  which  have  never  been  duplicated 
since. 

In  the  middle  aisle  of  the  hall  of  the  five  hundred  Bud- 
dhist gods  is  a  fine  bronze  pagoda,  in  which  are  three  great 
bronze  images.  While  we  were  in  the  temple  a  service  was 
going  on,  and  four  priests  were  marching  around  the  bronze 
images,  beating  their  tomtoms  and  chanting  in  a  most  dole- 
ful and  lugubrious  tone  of  voice.  Among  all  the  dispirited 
fellows  I  ever  saw  these  priests  would  carry  off  the  palm. 
Thev  had  a  little  curiositv  about  us,  who  were  the  onlv  vis- 
itors  to  the  temple  at  the  time,  but  no  interest  in  the  service 
that  they  were  performing.  They  Tnust  beat  their  tomtoms 
so  many  times ;  they  7ri,ust  wail  out  their  hideous  chant  so 
man}^  times  more,  but  they  evidently  considered  it  a  most 
unpleasant  job,  and  desired  to  get  through  it  with  as  little 
expenditure  of  nervous  energy  as  possible.  I  shall  never 
forget  the  faces  of  two  of  those  priests,  so  utterly  dispirited 
were  they,  so  completely  and  profoundly  indifferent  to  Avhat 
they  were  doing ! 


174  THE   SORDID   SPIRIT   OF  BUDDHISM. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  sight  was  representative  of  the 
decadence  of  the  Buddhist  religion  everywhere.  Whatever 
it  may  have  been  in  the  past,  it  certainly  has  little  hold  on 
the  affections  of  the  people  to-day.  The  idols  are  worshiped 
with  no  thought  of  love  or  real  reverence  but  with  the  hope 
of  gain.  The  incense  is  burned  and  the  prayers  are  offered 
for  the  sake  of  good  luck,  and  there  is  no  more  sense  of 
reverence  or  worship,  or  affectionate  recognition  of  a  higher 
power  on  the  part  of  these  devotees,  so  far  as  I  could  learn, 
than  there  is  in  the  hearts  of  those  at  home,  who,  partly 
for  fun  and  partly  because  of  their  superstition,  hang  out  the 
horseshoe  over  the  front  door,  or  insist  on  seeing  the  moon 
over  their  right  shoulder  when  she  first  appears.  Worship 
appears  to  be  universal  in  such  a  city  as  Canton.  Every 
store,  every  house,  and  every  boat  has  its  god,  its  shrine, 
and  its  incense ;  yet  it  is  simply  the  god  of  Good  Luck  who 
is  worshiped ;  onh"  the  deity  of  Prosperity  who  is  invoked. 

Let  us  go  to  another  temple  before  we  get  through  with 
Canton.  This  shall  be  the  "Temple  of  Horrors,"  which, 
singularly  enough,  is  situated  on  the  street  of  "  Benevolence 
and  Love."  It  is  the  most  popular  temple  in  the  city, 
whether  because  of  the  horrors  which  are  artistically  ar- 
ranged at  each  side  or  because  of  the  fortune  tellers,  ped- 
dlers, gamblers,  and  quacks  who  have  their  stalls  there,  I  am 
not  able  to  say.  This  seems  to  be  the  favorite  resort  of  the 
dentists  also,  for  I  saw  several  of  their  ilk  with  long  strings 
of  extracted  inolars  and  grinders  at  least  thirty  feet  in 
length,  which  looked  like  ghastl}"  necklaces.  There  were  a 
few  people  paying  their  vows  to  the  idols,  but  the  one  who 
interested  me  most  was  a  woman  of  high  caste  who  toddled 
in  on  the  tiniest  of  tiny  feet.  If  her  feet  were  small  she 
made  up  for  it  at  the  other  end  of  her  person,  for  her  hair 
was  dressed  in  the  latest  and  extremest  stvle,  ornamented 


IN   THE   HEIGHT   OF   THE  FASHION.  175 

with  all  kinds  of  rich  and  costly  ornaments.  Her  face  was 
painted  in  most  brilliant  colors  and  there  was  a  patch  of 
brilliant  carmine  on  her  lower  lip.  Her  clothing  was  silk  of 
various  bright  colors,  and  she  was  evidently  gotten  up  with- 
out regard  to  expense.  On  her  tiny  toes  she  could  not  walk 
alone,  but  had  a  servant  on  each  side  to  steady  her  as  she 
went  up  the  steps.  She  appeared  as  indifferent  to  the  god 
who  was  grinning  from  the  rear  end  of  the  temple  as  any  of 
the  rest,  but  coolly  sent  one  of  her  servants  to  light  some  in- 
cense and  place  the  bundle  of  sticks  in  the  sand  box  beneath 
the  god's  nose.  Then  she  got  a  slip  referring  to  a  number, 
which  number  the  priest  consulted  and  gave  her  the  proph- 
ecy which  she  sought.  The  priestly  oracle  frequently 
couches  his  words  in  very  ambiguous  phrases  which  will 
answer  for  one  thing  about  as  well  as  another;  but  after 
getting  her  slip  of  paper  which  told  her  fortune,  she  toddled 
off  once  more,  evidently  well  pleased  with  the  news  she  had 
received,  Avhile  the  priests  were  equally  satisfied  with  the 
silver  bits  which  had  come  into  their  till. 

Everything  about  these  temples  is  dirty  and  disorderly. 
There  is  no  obeisance  or  indications  of  reverence  on  the 
part  of  the  worshipers.  They  bustle  around  in  the  most 
business-like  way,  buy  their  incense,  light  it,  place  it  in  the 
proper  receptacle,  and  then  go  off  perfectly  satisfied  that 
they  have  done  their  duty.  In  all  the  smaller  temples 
which  I  saw  in  China,  the  same  disregard,  indifference,  and 
irreverence  were  exhibited.  The  priests  looked  utterly 
weary  and  dispirited  and  evidently  thought  life  was  not 
worth  living.  The  Avorshipers  only  sought  good  fortune 
and  success  in  business.  The  temples  were  often  littered 
and  dirty,  and  priest  and  worshiper  alike  were  only  con- 
cerned with  what  they  could  get  out  of  the  imposture. 
This  temple  is  called  the  Temple  of  Horrors  because  of  some 


17G  '     THE  BUDDHIST   HADES. 

wax-work-like  shows  on  either  side  of  the  entrance  which 
leads  up  to  it.  1  think  Madame  Tussaud  must  have  gotten 
the  idea  of  her  underground  Temple  of  Horrors  in  London 
from  this  temple  in  Canton,  her's,  to  be  sure,  being  rather 
more  artistic  and  realistic.  But  this  show  has  the  advantage 
of  being  older,  and  the  figures  quite  as  true  to  life. 

In  one  of  the  little  apartments  two  fiends  are  seen  saw- 
ing a  man  m  two  from  his  head  to  his  feet.  The  poor  man 
who  is  being  thus  treated  is  inclosed  between  two  boards, 
but  he  is  turned  sideways  to  the  audience  so  that  it  can  see 
the  saw  going  through  him.  In  another  apartment  transmi- 
gration is  shown,  and  a  man  is  being  turned  into  a  wolf,  the 
creature  as  he  appears  being  half  man  and  half  wolf.  In 
still  another  section  of  this  famous  museum  is  a  man 
strapped  to  the  ground  with  the  soles  of  his  feet  uppermost, 
Avliile  a  hideous  devil  with  a  grin  on  his  face  bastinadoes 
him.  Still  another  poor  fellow  has  a  red-hot  bell  coming 
down  over  his  shrinking  body  which,  evidently,  will  soon  be 
reduced  to  a  cinder,  while  another  one  is  being  boiled  in  oil. 
These  are  the  ])unishments  of  the  Buddhist  hell. 

Another  of  the  show  places  of  Canton  which  we  wish  to 
see  is  the  Examination  Hall.  Here  ever}^  three  years  the 
examination  of  candidates  for  the  second  literarv  deg-ree  is 
held,  xill  the  students  of  the  first  degree  in  the  whole 
province  are  required  to  compete  at  this  examination,  and  I 
imaoine  it  is  the  most  extensive  "exam"  that  is  held  in  anv 
portion  of  the  world.  As  we  enter  the  Examination  Hall, 
we  see  on  either  side  rows  and  rows  of  little  cells  which  ex- 
tend back  from  the  main  passageway,  seventy-five  or  a  hun- 
dred of  them  in  a  row.  These  cells  are  5j^  feet  long  and 
3^  feet  wide,  and  number  11,616 ;  but  even  this  enormous 
number  is  not  enough  for  all  the  candidates,  and  additional 
cells  were  furnished  at  the  last  triennial  examination. 


THE   GREAT   TRIENNIAL   EXAMINATION.  17? 

In  these  narrow  closets  the  candidate  for  the  second  de- 
gree is  imprisoned.  He  is  given  a  chair  and  a  diminutive 
table  :  a  little  earthen  braiser  with  a  few  coals  in  it  on 
which  he  can  cook  his  rice  and  make  his  tea,  and  for  three 
days  he  is  not  allowed  to  leave  his  cell  except  to  go  into  the 
narrow  passage  which  runs  beside  it.  He  must  have  no 
•communication  with  any  other  student,  and  if  he  is  caught 
with  another  man's  essay  or  cheating  in  any  way,  he  may 
lose  his  head,  for  aught  I  know.  At  any  rate  the  punish- 
ment would  be  very  severe.  The  examination  begins  on  the 
•eighth  day  of  the  eighth  moon  and  occupies  three  sessions  of 
three  days  each.  The  same  text  is  given  to  all  at  daylight, 
and  the  essays  must  be  handed  in  on  the  following  morning. 
Out  of  these  12,000  or  more  candidates,  how  many  do  you 
suppose  jjass  the  final  examination?  Only  130  on  the 
average.  The  rest  of  the  poor  fellows  who  have  used  their 
time  and  brains  for  nothing  are  doomed  to  disappointment, 
but  they  can  try  for  the  degree  again  at  the  end  of  another 
three  years  if  they  choose,  and  again  and  again,  and  the 
most  pathetic  spectacle  is  to  see  old  men  of  sixty  and 
seventy  years  who  have  tried  to  pass  the  examination  every 
three  years  since  they  Avere  twenty,  still  hoping  against 
hope. 

Those  who  pass,  however,  are  well  taken  care  of,  for 
they  are  booked  for  promotion  in  civil  offices,  and  are 
always  required  to  go  to  Peking  to  compete  for  the  third 
degree.  If  one  passes  this  third  degree,  he  is  honored  by  all 
his  relatives  and  by  the  whole  clan.  I  have  seen  many 
^  pole  with  fluttering  flags  set  up  in  Chinese  villages,  indi- 
cating that  the  family  which  lives  about  that  pole  has  a 
scholar  of  high  rank  among  them,  one  who  has  passed  an 
■examination  for  the  second  or  third  degree. 

But  what  an  absurd  and  useless  waste  of  energy  is  re- 


178 


A   WASTE   OF   ENERGY. 


quired  to  pass  this  examination?  ]S"othing  of  modern 
science  is  demanded,  nothing  of  modern  literature,  nothing 
that  will  improve  the  body  or  the  soul,  or  that  will  add  to 
the  sum  total  of  the  world's  knowledge ;  but  simply  an  essay 
on  some  text  of  Confucius.  This  is  the  only  door  of  en- 
trance to  civil  service  promotion  in  China.  This  kind  of 
civil  service  reform  certainly  needs  itself  to  be  reformed. 

Another  interesting  place  in  Canton  is  the  Five-Storied 
Pagoda.  Strickly  speaking,  it  is  not  a  pagoda  at  all,  but 
looks  more  like  a  great  brick  barn.  There  are  five  stories  to 
it,  however,  and  from  the  topmost  platform  a  magnificent 
view  of  the  city,  the  great  river,  and  the  hills  beyond  can 
be  seen.  These  hills  are  filled  with  graves  of  a  semicircular 
shape,  and  from  this  place  the  tomb  of  a  relative  of  Ma- 
hommed,  who  died  in  the  seventh  centur}^,  is  visible. 

Perhaps  we  have  seen  enough  for  one  morning,  and  after 
paying  our  bearers  about  twentj^-five  cents  each  for  their 
services  and  our  guide  a  reasonable  sum  for  his  time,  we  will 
find  our  way  back  to  our  friends,  with  most  vivid  recollec- 
tions of  a  morning  in  Canton. 


CHAPTER  X. 

OUR  JOURNEY  UP  THE  GREAT  RIVER. 

An  Excursion  in  a  Flower  Boat  —  "Rice  Power"  —  The  Stern-Wheeler 
and  its  Motive  Power  —  Sacrifices  and  Perils  of  the  Missionary  —  A 
Chinese  Feast  —  Chop  Sticks  and  How  to  Use  Them  —  Lamb  and  Chest- 
nuts—  Frogs'  Legs  and  Onions  —  A  Dissipated  Prejudice  —  Shrimps 
and  Bamboo  Root  —  Our  Seventeen  Courses  —  A  Chinese  Village  —  A 
Village  Scliool  and  Schoolmaster  —  Studying  Aloud  —  A  Pot  and  its 
Contents  —  How  the  Ashes  of  Grandfathers  are  saved  in  China —  "  Fe, 
Fi,  Fo,  Fum,  I  Smell  the  Blood  of  a  Chinaman  "  —  Seventeen  Dollars 
for  a  Child  —  A  Fire-Cracker  Factory  —  How  Fire-Crackers  are  Made 
—  Cheap  Wages  and  Cheap  Living— A  Chinese  Flower  Garden— A 
Mandarin  in  His  Blossom  Gown  —  A  Common  Temple  —  Waking  up 
the  God  —  Washstands  for  a  God  —  Lack  of  Reverence  —  Fans  for  Sick 
Relatives  —  The  Voices  of  the  Night  —  A  Contrast. 


iOST  visitors  to  Canton  confine  their 
attention  to  the  great  city  itself, 
and  think  they  have  seen  it  all 
when  they  have  visited  the  Exam- 
ination Hall,  the  Temple  of  the 
Five  Hundred  Gods,  the  silk- 
weaving  establishments,  and  the 
Five-Storied  Pagoda;  but  to  me 
these  were  not  the  most  interest- 
ing of  the  sights  of  this  marvel- 
ous province,  teeming  with  more 
population  than  any  other  equal 
section  of  the  globe.  It  was  our  good  fortune  to  be  guests 
in  a  delightful  missionarv  home  while  in  Canton,  and  to 
see  not  only  these  stock  sights,  but  to  get  some  glimpses  of 
Chinese  life  which  not  one  visitor  in  a  hundred  is  likely  to 

see. 

(179) 


180  RICE   POWER  NAVIGATION. 

One  day  we  had  an  excursion  up  the  great  Pearl  River 
in  a  Chinese  house  boat.  This  was  a  most  unique  experi- 
ence. The  boat  Avas  a  great  lumbering  ark  of  an  affair, 
fitted  up  with  kitchen  and  sitting-room,  while  the  stained- 
glass  windows,  ebony  and  marble  furniture,  and  tinkling 
chandeliers  gave  it  quite  a  gorgeous  appearance.  Slowly 
and  wearisomely  the  coolies  made  their  way  up  the  river 
just  as  their  ancestors  had  done  for  a  thousand  years  past. 
Our  boat,  like  all  the  other  thousands  on  the  river,  was  pro- 
pelled by  "  rice  power,"  as  one  of  our  friends  said.  Steam 
power  has  not  yet  been  introduced  on  the  Pearl  River, 
except  for  a  few  steam  launches.  Electric  power  is  still  un- 
unknown,  but  "  rice  power,"  exerted  through  the  muscles  of 
men  and  women,  is  still  the  propelling  force  on  the  Canton 
or  Pearl  River. 

Every  now  and  then  a  splashing  stern-wheel  boat  would 
pass  us.  At  first  it  appeared  almost  like  a  Mississippi  River 
steamer  of  rude  design,  with  Avater  flying  from  the  paddle 
wheel  behind,  but  on  looking  more  closely,  we  could  see  that 
the  machinery  was  worked  by  sixteen  coolies,  who  constantly 
shuffled  through  their  monotonous  round  like  ])Oor  horses  in 
a  treadmill.  But  even  this  is  an  invention  of  very  late  years, 
and  is  considered  a  great  innovation  by  most  of  the  inhabit- 
ants. A  long  sweep  fastened  to  a  short  staple  in  the  bow 
of  the  boat  is  still  the  ordinary  means  of  propulsion. 

Every  *few  minutes  our  coolies  would  stop  to  refresh 
themselves  with  a  cup  of  tea,  or  a  whiff  or  two  from  their 
pipes,  which,  by  the  way,  only  hold  a  pinch  of  tobacco. 
They  all  seemed  to  be  very  good-tempered  and  able-bodied 
fellows.  One  or  two  of  them  had  brawny  arms  that  would 
rejoice  the  heart  of  a  pugilist.  Past  the  rice  fields,  past  vil- 
lages, past  toiling  coolies  endlessly  pumping  water  for  irri- 
gation, past  luxuriant  gardens  where  every  square  inch  of 


COURAGE  AND   SELF-SACRIFICE.  181 

soil  is  cultivated,  we  slowly  made  our  way.  Some  of  my 
missionary  friends  spend  much  of  their  time  in  the  villages 
hundreds  of  miles  up  the  river,  for  this  is  a  great  water  way 
which  branches  out  in  every  direction  and  affords  access  to 
the  very  heart  of  this  great  province.  I  would  like  to  intro- 
duce the  scoffers  at  missionary  work  to  these  self-sacrificing 
men  and  women  who  have  left  their  home  and  friends 
behind  them,  and  are  spending  their  lives  in  the  foul  atmos- 
phere of  a  pagan  country,  not  for  a  few  short  weeks  or 
months,  but  for  a  lifetime,  in  order  to  win  some  of  these 
people  to  Christ. 

Manv  a  time  have  these  missionaries  taken  their  lives 
in  their  hands.  Though  there  is  now  but  little  danger  in 
most  of  the  villages  there  are  some  which  it  is  not  safe  for 
them  to  visit.  Many  times  have  some  of  them  been  stoned 
out  of  the  villages  where  they  attempted  to  preach  the  Gos- 
pel, but  they  still  persevered  and  are  satisfied  that  the  time 
will  come  when  this  marvelous  people,  who  have  retained 
their  ancient  civilization  for  so  many  centuries,  will  be 
equally  stable  in  their  new  Christian  civilization. 

At  length,  in  the  course  of  this  novel  picnic,  dinner  time 
comes  and  my  friends  have  promised  me  a  genuine  Chinese 
feast.  Let  us  sit  down  together  to  this  feast.  "We  are  not 
allowed  to  have  knives  and  forks  or  sjDoons,  but  simply 
chop  sticks  and  a  little  porcelain  ladle,  with  which  we  help 
ourselves  out  of  the  common  dish  in  the  middle  of  the 
table.  Would  you  learn  how  to  use  these  chop  sticks  ? 
then  follow  these  directions  implicitly.  Put  the  lower  stick 
across  the  thumb,  holding  it  firmly  between  the  thumb 
and  first  finger.  Place  the  second  chop  stick  over  this, 
allowing  it  to  be  flexible  and  to  wriggle  as  you  desire  it. 
After  considerable  practice  you  may  be  able  to  convey  a 
piece  of  fish  from  the  central  dish  to  vour  mouth  without  a 
.13  ^  • 


182  A  GENUINE   CHINESE  FEAST. 

catastrophe  on  the  way.  The  great  secret  of  .eating  with 
chop  sticks  is  to  keep  the  lower  stick  stiff  and  inflexible;  but 
a  foreigner's  muscles  being  ill-trained,  it  is  apt  to  waver  and 
slip,  which  is  fatal  to  all  successful  efforts. 

After  waiting  a  considerable  time  for  the  dignified  cooks 
to  make  ready,  oranges  and  bananas  are  brought  on  for  the 
first  course.  These  required  no  great  skill,  for  we  are 
allowed  to  take  them  in  our  hands  and  eat  them  as  at  any 
other  time.  But  now  comes  a  difficult  task.  A  soup  with 
mushrooms,  melons,  rice,  and  barley,  is  next  brought  on  and 
placed  in  a  bowl  in  the  center  of  the  table.  Each  one  takes 
his  little  porcelain  ladle  and  dips  for  himself  in  the  common 
bowl,  while  the  larger  particles  of  mushrooms  and  melons  he 
must  fish  out  with  his  chop  sticks.  The  third  course  is 
boiled  chicken  stuffed  with  chestnuts  and  rice.  This  is  so 
completely  cooked  that  the  least  little  touch  with  the  chop 
sticks  breaks  it  into  pieces,  and  we  each  fish  out  for  ourselves 
what  we  can  from  the  common  dish.  When  secured  it  is 
most  toothsome  and  savory,  I  assure  you. 

Stuffed  pigeons  constitute  the  fourth  course.  They  are 
somewhat  like  the  chickens,  only  dressed  in  a  different  way. 
Fish  wrapped  in  something  that  resembles  a  sausage  skin 
constitutes  the  fifth  course,  and  a  very  good  course  it  is. 
The  sixth  course  is  lamb  and  chestnuts ;  seventh  course, 
matai,  a  vegetable  that  is  crisp  and  very  pleasant  to  the 
taste.  Duck  and  ham  furnish  the  eighth  course,  and  with 
each  new  dish  our  plates  are  changed,  though  we  are  al- 
lowed to  retain  the  same  chop  sticks.  Frogs'  legs  stewed  in 
onions  are  then  placed  upon  the  table. 

Some  of  the  ladies  of  the  party  told  the  Chinese  servants 
to  be  sure  and  let  them  know  when  the  frogs  appeared  that 
they  might  decline  that  course ;  but  when  they  thought  to 
mention  the  matter,  they  were  politely  informed  that  the 


SEVENTEEN  COURSES.  183 

frogs  had  already  been  eaten,  and  they  remembered,  when 
it  was  too  late  to  remedy  it,  that  they  had  enjoyed  that 
course  better  than  any  other.  Thus  our  prejudices  are  dissi- 
pated, sometimes  unconsciously.  But  why  frogs  should  be 
any  more  distasteful  than  turtles  or  oysters  or  fish,  I  have 
never  been  able  to  determine. 

The  tenth  course  is  rice,  just  simple,  unadulterated  boiled 
rice.  Why  it  should  be  thus  honored  in  the  middle  of  the 
feast,  I  am  not  aware.  This  is  followed  bv  a  course  of 
shrimps  stewed  with  onions  and  bamboo  root,  which  is  very 
palatable.  The  twelfth  course  is  pickles ;  the  thirteenth, 
bananas ;  the  fourteenth,  another  mushroom  soup ;  the  fif- 
teenth, a  kind  of  a  dish  made  of  shrimps,  pork,  and  other 
meat  mixed  and  boiled  together.  The  sixteenth  is  sponge 
cake,  and  the  seventeenth  mandarin  oranges.  By  this  time 
you  can  imagine  that  the  capacities  of  the  missionaries  were 
sorely  taxed,  and  even  the  gastronomic  capabilities  of  their 
guests  were  tried  to  the  utmost  extent.  However,  this  was 
not  all,  for  in  order  to  do  full  justice  to  the  Chinese  feast,  we 
must  not  forget  that  we  are  in  the  land  of  tea,  and  in  a  little 
while,  dainty  and  delicate  cups  of  it  are  brought  on  to  con- 
clude the  banquet. 

A  little  way  back  from  the  river  are  many  Chinese 
villages  which  for  the  most  part  are  embowered  in  trees. 
The  tiled  roofs  look  so  much  like  the  surface  of  the  ground 
that  it  is  difficult  at  a  little  distance  to  find  where  the  village 
begins  and  the  fields  leave  off.  If  we  get  into  the  village, 
however,  we  shall  find  it  teeming  with  life. 

On  this  trip  up  the  Pearl  river  we  have  an  excellent 
opportunity  to  visit  one  of  these  villages.  In  the  missionary 
district  which  is  covered  by  one  of  my  friends  who  is  in  the 
boat  with  us,  are  thirty  thousand  of  these  villages.  Of 
course  he  could  not  preach  in  all  of  them  in  one  year  or 


184 


STREETS   SPANNED   BY   AN   UMBRELLA. 


in  a  hundred  3^ears,  but  they  are  all  open  to  his  ministra- 
tions. From  a  distance  these  villages  look  somewhat  pictur- 
esque, but  the  enchantment  vanishes  on  nearer  approach.  If 
the  streets  of  Hong  Kong  are  narrow  and  the  streets  of 
Canton  narrower,   the   streets  of  these   villages  should   be 


ON   THE   PEARL   RIVER. 


compared  in  the  superlative  degree,  for  indeed  they  are  the 
narrowest  of  all.  Two  people  can  scarcely  walk  abreast  in 
many  of  them.  I  had  in  my  hand  when  visiting  one  of 
them,  an  ordinary  umbrella  which  exactly  spanned  the  dis- 
tance from  wall  to  wall  in  many  streets,  while  the  widest 
ones  were  about  six  inches  wider  than  the  length  of  my 
umbrella.  The  pavement  is  broken  and  shattered  and  horri- 
ble filth  is  everywhere. 

As  we  passed  along  the  street  in  the  village,  we  heard  a 
great  noise  of  voices  reciting  in  a  humdrum,  sing-song  way, 
something  which  was  of  course  unintelligible  to  us. 

"  That  is  a  school,"  said  my  friend ;  "  let  us  look  in."  So 
w^e  unceremoniously  entered,  which  we  found  we  were  at 


A   PRIMARY   SCHOOL.  185 

perfect  liberty  to  do,  and  saw  t\Yeiity  little  urchins  who,  at 
the  top  of  their  voices,  were  shouting  some  sentences  from 
Confucius.  The  schoolmaster  did  not  appear  at  first,  but 
after  we  had  been  standing  looking  in  at  the  door  for  a 
moment,  finding  from  the  slight  cessation  of  noise,  which 
was  due  to  curiosity  of  the  students  who  could  not  recite 
and  look  at  us  at  the  same  time,  that  there  was  something- 
going  on,  he  came  out  of  the  back  room  of  the  school  build- 
ing. 

He  was  very  polite  and  courteous  and  invited  us  to  come 
in  and  take  a  seat.  He  explained  to  us  that  the  ])upils 
learned  the  words,  but  that  thev  had  no  idea  of  their  mean- 
ing.  After  they  had  thoroughly  committed  them,  lie  in- 
terpreted the  meaning  of  the  passage,  and  then  gave  them 
a  new  one  to  learn.  They  cannot  do  this  silently,  however, 
but  the  louder  they  shout  the  quicivcr  they  seem  to  learn 
their  lessons.  Most  of  the  schoolmasters  throughout  the 
empu'e  are  those  who  have  passed  the  first  examination,  Ijut 
are  among  the  vast  majority  of  those  who  have  not  passed 
the  second  and  who,  in  all  probability,  never  will.  It  is  for- 
tunate that  some  occupation  is  open  to  them,  though  the 
teacher  of  the  common  school  is  not  a  very  exalted  person- 
age in  China. 

"What  does  that  large  earthen  pot  contain?'-  I  said  to 
my  friend  as  we  came  out  of  the  school.  "  Oh,  that  is  the 
ancestral  jar,  containing  the  ashes  of  the  grandfathers  of  the 
people  who  live  in  this  house,"  he  said. 

Thus  we  made  our  way  through  this  crowded  little 
village.  The  women  came  to  the  door  of  their  little  hovels 
to  stare  at  us,  the  children  scuttled  away  as  though  we  were 
the  arch  enemies  of  mankind.  Doubtless  manv  of  them 
have  been  taught  by  their  parents  to  believe  that  foreigners 
will  make  awav  with  all  of  them  if  thev  can  onlv  o^et  their 


186  FOREIGN  OGRES. 

hands  upon  them.  Every  foreigner,  in  the  estimation  of  the 
lower  orders  of  Chinese,  is  a  great  ogre  who  is  constantly 
saying,  when  he  comes  into  a  Chinese  vilkige, 

"  Fe,  fi,  fo,  fum, 

"  I  smell  the  blood  of  a  Chinaman," 

and  these  little  folks  had  evidently  been  taught  to  keep  out 
of  harm's  way. 

When  the  heathen  Chinese  "\Wsh  to  damage  the  reputa- 
tion of  the  missionary,  they  persuade  their  simple-minded 
countrymen  that  the  missionaries  wish  the  eyes  and  hair 
and  livers  of  their  children  to  make  up  into  medicine,  and 
that  they  must  not  send  their  children  to  the  mission 
schools.  A  friend  of  mine  took  a  poor  little  child,  whose 
mother  had  died  and  whose  father  was  a  worthless  scamp, 
m  order  that  she  might  bring  up  this  child  in  a  decent  way. 
For  several  months  she  watched  over  it  carefully,  and  gave 
it  the  best  of  Chinese  nurses,  but  one  sad  day  for  the  baby 
the  "wretched  father  happened  around,  caught  up  the  child, 
carried  it  off,  and  sold  it  for  $17,  in  order  to  satisfy  one  of 
his  creditors.  The  selling  of  children  is  a  very  common 
thing  among  the  lower  class  of  the  Chinese,  and  infanticide 
is  still  practiced  in  some  of  the  provinces  to  a  frightful  ex- 
tent. No  wonder,  with  such  Bluebeard-like  stories  for  nur. 
sery  tales,  that  the  little  slant-eyed,  urchins  got  out  of  our 
way  as  rapidly  as  they  could. 

On  our  way  from  the  village  we  passed  a  firecracker  fac- 
tory, in  which  I  am  sure  the  boys  of  America  will  be  inter- 
ested. In  the  rear  room  of  the  factory  were  piles  of  coarse 
brown  paper.  By  a  very  simple  process  this  paper  is  made 
into  tubes  of  the  right  size  for  different  kinds  of  firecrackers, 
while  in  still  another  room  a  dozen  men  and  girls  were 
putting  in  the  powder,  tamping  in  the  brick  dust  on  top,  and 
making  a  great  clatter  about  it  with  their  little  mallets. 


CHINESE   CHEAP   LABOR.  187 

Most  of  this  work  is  done  by  hand,  though  some  rude 
machinery  is  used.  It  has  been  a  mystery  to  me,  ever 
since  the  first  Fourth  of  July  that  I  can  remember,  how  fire- 
crackers could  be  made  and  sent  over  to  America  to  be  sold 
for  five  cents  a  bunch.  The  mystery  is  scarcely  diminished 
when  we  see  the  work  performed,  and  note  that  so  much  of 
it  is  hand  labor.  I  suppose  the  real  explanation  lies  in  the 
cheapness  of  labor.  Wages,  I  am  told,  do  not  average  more 
than  ten  cents  per  day,  equivalent  to  seven  cents  of  our 
money ;  but  even  on  this  the  coolies  can  supply  themselves 
with  scanty  food  and  sufficient  clothing  for  this  climate,  and, 
perhaps,  lay  by  a  few  dollars  for  the  rainy  day  which  people 
in  China,  as  well  as  in  America,  are  always  fearing. 

The  real  secret  of  Chinese  cheap  labor  is  Chinese  cheap 
living.  Hotels  in  China  which  charge  $4.00  a  day  for  their 
guests  and  $1.00  a  day  for  European  servants  will  board 
Chinese  servants  for  twenty  cents  a  day,  and  then  make 
money.  I  cannot  say,  however,  that  this  poor  and  monoto- 
nous life,  as  it  doubtless  is,  has  any  deteriorating  effect, 
physically,  on  the  Chinese.  They  seem  usually  to  be  strong 
and  healthy,  and  unless  addicted  to  opium  smoking,  as  many 
of  them  are,  they  are  often  fine  specimens  of  a  vigorous 
physical  manhood.  How  a  coolie  can  support  life,  and  do 
the  tremendously  hard  labor  which  is  expected  of  him  six- 
teen hours  out  of  the  twenty-four,  on  a  little  rice  and  fish, 
surpasses  the  foreigner's  comprehension  ;  and  yet  that  it  can 
be  done  is  proved  by  the  hundred  of  millions  of  robust  peo- 
ple in  all  parts  of  the  Chinese  Empire. 

On  our  way  from  the  village  we  went  into  a  Chinese 
flower  garden.  These  abound  in  the  vicinity  of  Canton,  and 
are  really  very  beautiful.  Everything  is  on  a  diminutive 
scale.  Flowering  shrubs,  orange  trees,  lemon  trees,  azalias, 
and  chrysanthemums  are  all  of  the  dwarf  variet}^     Many 


188  BLOSSOMING  MANDARINS. 

orange  trees  growing  in  pots  are  loaded  with  little  oranges 
no  larger  than  the  end  of  one's  thumb.  But  the  most  curi- 
ous thing  about  these  flower  gardens  is  the  shapes  into 
which  the  shrubs  are  trained.  On  many  branches  we  found 
huge  goggle  eyes  pinned,  while  from  the  lower  branches 
porcelain  hands  reach  out  to  us  in  a  ghostly  way.  Below 
the  hands  were  often  a  pair  of  porcelain  feet  resting  on  the 
soil.  We  found  that  in  this  way  was  constructed  the  skele- 
ton of  a  floral  mandarin,  who,  after  a  few  weeks,  as  the 
blossoms  opened  on  the  branches,  would  be  clothed  in  a 
gorgeous  dress  of  white  or  red  or  yellow  bloom.  Some  of 
the  mandarins  had  already  blossomed  out,  and  their  heads 
and  hands  and  porcelain  feet  appeared  from  a  beautiful 
dress  of  living  green  and  brilliant  flowers.  There  were  also 
in  this  garden  lions  and  unicorns,  foxes  and  buffaloes,  with 
flowery  skins,  and  goggle  eyes  of  porcelain.  The  whole 
effect  was  very  curious. 

A  Chinese  mandarin  clothed  in  flowers,  or  a  lion  or  uni- 
corn in  the  same  beautiful  dress,  if  displayed  in  a  New 
York  florist's  window,  would  attract  such  a  crowd  that  the 
police  would  have  to  clear  the  Avay.  There  were  many 
other  beautiful  things  in  this  garden,  fountains  and  arch- 
ways, bridges  over  little  streams,  and  flowery  pagodas,  mak- 
ing it  as  picturesque  and  beautiful  a  place  as  could  be  found 
in  our  most  extensive  establishments  in  England  or  America. 

As  we  came  out  of  the  garden  we  passed  along  the  bor- 
ders of  canals  and  roads  lined  with  orange  and  lemon  trees 
and  the  beautiful  carambola,  with  its  three-cornered  yellow 
fruit  as  large  as  an  apple  hanging  in  rich  profusion  from  its 
branches.  The  carambolas  were  just  ripe  at  the  time  of 
our  visit  to  Canton,  and  the  deep  yellow,  luscious  fruit  shin- 
ing through  the  green  leaves  made  as  pretty  an  orchard 
effect  as  one  would  wish  to  see. 


THE   GRIMY   GODS   OF   CHINA.  189 

On  our  way  back  to  our  missionary  home,  we  stepped 
into  one  of  the  common  temples,  not  a  great,  gorgeous 
temple  such  as  we  have  seen  in  Canton,  but  a  more  modest, 
suburban  shrine.  A  beautiful  grove  of  trees  surrounded  it, 
but  within  the  temple  was  the  same  squalor  and  dirt,  indif- 
ference and  irreverence,  that  we  have  seen  elsewhere. 
There  was,  to  be  sure,  a  gong  to  be  rung,  and  a  big  drum  to 
be  beaten  in  order  to  wake  up  the  god,  and  by  his  side  were 
many  votive  offerings.  In  one  temple  that  we  visited,  the 
god  had  been  favored  ^Yith  several  washstands  fitted  up  with 
copper  basins.  From  the  looks  of  his  time-begrimed  face 
we  thought  he  needed  to  use  these  presents.  Another  god 
had  several  suits  of  clothing  presented  to  him.  These  hung 
on  a  chair  near  by,  though  from  their  appearance  we  judged 
that  he  had  never  put  them  on.  Still  another  had  a  hand- 
some sedan  chair  among  his  gifts,  so  that  he  could  take  a 
ride  if  he  wished. 

The  god  of  medicine  is  assiduously  fanned  by  many  of 
his  worshipers,  and  these  fans  are  taken  home  to  be  used  by 
his  friends  in  fanning  their  sick  relatives,  thus  bringino-  the 
breath  of  the  god  near  to  them. 

That  such  an  intelligent,  practical,  sensible  people,  as  the 
Chinese  undoubtedly  are  in  many  ways,  should  still  adhere 
to  these  absurd  and  silly  superstitions,  can  only  be  accounted 
for  by  the  fact  that  few  of  them  have  ever  heard  of  any- 
thing better,  and  that  the  religion  of  Christ  m  this  vast 
empire  has  yet  had  time  to  make  but  little  headway. 

Soon  we  are  again  at  the  kind  home  which  opens  to  us  its 
hospitable  doors  after  a  most  delightful  day  on  the  river  and 
in  the  country,  tired  enough,  as  we  thought,  to  go  to  bed 
and  sleep  soundly  in  spite  of  the  voices  of  the  night,  which 
are  not  so  poetical  as  in  some  sections  of  the  globe.  Yet  we 
hear  until  well  on  towards  midnight  the  clanging  of  the 


190 


IN   THE  NIGHT   WATCHES. 


gongs  from  the  Buddhist  temples  on  either  side  of  our 
friend's  home,  alternating  with  the  beating  of  cymbals,  for 
this  has  been  a  high  day  and  the  god  must  be  worshij^ed  far 
into  the  night. 

Every  now  and  then  a  louder  bang  indicates  the  report 
of  a  gun,  which  we  are  told  is  fired  by  the  watchman  on  his 
rounds  to  let  the  thieves  know  that  he  is  in  their  vicinity  and 
that  they  had  better  keep  out  of  his  way,  a  very  convenient 
thing  for  the  thieves,  as  it  seems  to  us.  Thus,  with  the  bang 
of  gun  and  beat  of  drum,  and  clash  of  cymbals,  our  senses 
grow  drowsy  as  we  recall  to  mind  the  events  of  the  day  that 
has  passed,  and  we  thank  God  for  a  religion  that  appeals  to 
the  head  as  well  as  to  the  heart,  to  the  conscience  and  not  to 
superstition,  to  the  love  of  God  and  not  to  an  undefined  fear 
of  evil,  to  the  desire  for  holiness  and  not  to  the  hope  of  gain. 
These  are  the  lessons  which  the  tom-toms  and  the  fire-crack- 
ers, the  gongs  and  the  drums  of  the  Buddhist  temples,  teach 
us  in  the  watches  of  the  night. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

OUR  STAY  IN  CHARMING  JAPAN  — SOCIAL  CUSTOMS  — SOME 
INTERESTING  PERSONAL  EXPERIENCES  —  LIFE  AND 
SCENES    ON    A    TEA    PLANTATION. 

The  Best  Preparation  for  a  New  Land  —  A  Terrible  Typhoon  —  Personal 
Experiences — "The  Lord  is  Able  to  Give  Thee  Much  More  Thau 
This"  —  The  Most  Beautiful  of  Mountains — Fujiyama  in  Spotless 
Ermine  —  ' '  Fiery  Jack  "  —  Yokohama  —  The  Rush  of  Jinrikishas  — 
The  Capture  of  the  Man-of- War's  Men  —  Fun  in  the  Custom  House  — 
"  Crossing  the  Palm  "  —  A  Lesson  in  Japanese  Politeness  —  Bowing  ia 
Japanese  —  The  Shop-keeper's  Salaam  —  The  Maid  Servant's  Obeisance 

—  Receiving  Callers  —  A  Hinge  in  the  Spine  — The  Ohio  Statesman's. 
Mistake  — "My  Fool  of  a  Wife  "  — Japanese  Railways  — Our  Fellow 
Passengers  —  Progressive  Japan  —  Telegraph  Lines  and  Electric  Lights 

—  Postal  Delivery  Six  Times  a  Day  —  Protecting  the  Windows  —  The 
Professor's  Many  Suits  — The  "  Obi"  —  A  Japanese  Joseph  —  What  we 
Saw  from  the  Car  Window  —  A  Tea  Plantation. 


(OTHIXG  so  well  jtrepares  the  trav- 
eler for  an  introduction  to  any 
new  land  as  a  long  and  stormy 
journey  thitherward  by  sea.  Even 
the  desert  of  Sahara  would  be 
welcome  under  such  circum- 
stances ;  how  much  more  the 
beautiful  shores  of  smiling  Japan. 
So  far  as  previous  preparation 
is  concerned,  we  were  made 
amply  ready  by  the  long  and 
stormy  voyage  from  Hong  Kong. 
Rarely  has  so  much  tempestuous  discomfort  been  com- 
pressed into  the  seven  days  between  Hong  Kong  and 
Yokohama. 

As   we  neared  the   coast  of  Japan,  a  fearful  typhoon. 

(101) 


192  THROUGH   THE   CENTER   OF   THE   TYPHOON. 

which  liad  been  following  in  onr  wake  for  several  clays, 
making  only  a  little  more  rapid  time  than  the  steamer  itself, 
overtook  us.  The  barometer  dropped  to  the  lowest  point 
ever  known  in  these  latitudes,  and  about  ten  o'clock  on  the 
night  of  November  23d,  the  wind  began  to  blow  with  "  ty- 
phoon force."  For  several  days  before,  the  wind  had  been 
"  blowing  a  gale,"  according  to  the  captain's  log  book,  but 
on  this  night  the  demons  of  the  air  seemed  to  take  to  them- 
selves seventy  times  seven  spirits  worse  than  the  first,  and 
the  way  they  shrieked  and  howled  and  screamed  through 
the  rigging  will  never  be  forgotten  by  the  passengers  of  the 
Peru.  Hoping  the  storm  might  blow  by.  Captain  Ward  at 
first  "  hove  to,"  to  speak  after  the  manner  of  sailors,  but, 
fearing  that  we  might  drift  upon  the  rocks  of  the  Loochoo 
Islands,  he  soon  put  on  all  steam  again,  and  drove  his  good 
ship  directly  through  the  center  of  the  typhoon,  in  order  to 
get  sufficient  sea  room. 

As  is  well  known,  a  typhoon  is  a  circular  storm  of  lim- 
ited extent,  which  revolves  about  a  comparatively  calm  area. 
After  plowing  our  way  through  the  eastern  edge  of  the 
typhoon  for  some  two  hours,  we  struck  the  calmer  center, 
and  for  a  little  while  the  passengers  congratulated  them- 
selves that  the  storm  was  over.  But,  alas !  our  congratula- 
tions were  premature,  for,  after  half  an  hour  of  comparative 
quiet,  the  Peru  dashed  into  the  western  edge  of  the  cyclone, 
and  all  the  demons  in  the  rigging  beujan  to  scream  and  howl 
and  shriek  with  redoubled  iViVj.  For  two  hours  more  it  was 
with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  we  kept  in  our  berths,  hold- 
ing to  the  storm  braces  with  both  hands,  and  thus  prevent- 
ing ourselves  from  being  pitched  headlong  into  the  mass  of 
trunks  and  rugs,  tumblers  and  water  bottles,  hairbrushes 
and  life  preservers,  which  were  jumbled  together  in  inde- 
scribable confusion  upon  the  state-room  floor. 


FUJIYAMA,    THE  BEAUTIFUL.  193 

As  the  gray  dawn  began  to  show  in  what  part  of  the 
state-room  the  window  was  situated,  the  wind  somewhat 
moderated,  but  the  waves  were  as  high  as  ever.  Reaching 
down  into  the  confused  mass  of  debris  which  lay  on  the 
state-room  floor,  Mrs.  Pilgrim  picked  up  one  of  the  calen- 
dars which  our  thoughtful  friends  at  home  had  given  us,  with 
the  foUovdng  cheering  message  for  Kovember  twenty-fourth 
(Thanksgiving  day,  by  the  way),  "  The  Lord  is  able  to  give 
thee  much  more  than  this." 

!N"ever  did  that  promise  from  Holy  Writ  have  such  a  sin- 
ister significance  before.  However,  as  the  storm  cleared 
away  and  the  sun  appeared  later  in  the  day,  and  as  the 
waves  somewhat  moderated,  though  still  "  mountainous," 
according  to  the  log  book  of  the  Peru.,  we  felt  the  promise 
was  not  so  inappropriate  after  all,  and  there  were  many 
things  to  be  thankful  for  on  this  Thanksgiving  Day,  even 
though  the  rolling,  pitching  dinner  table  did  prevent  our 
doing  full  justice  to  the  Thanksgiving  turkey  and  cranberry 
sauce. 

After  this  experience,  it  can  readily  be  seen  that  we 
eagerly  awaited  the  first  glimpse  of  the  lovely  shores  of 
Japan. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  November  twenty -sixth,  they 
broke  upon  us.  There  was  ruji3^ania,  the  most  beautiful 
mountain  in  the  world,  which  figures  on  innumerable  screens 
and  fans  and  teacups,  rising  before  us  in  all  his  regal 
splendor.  No  wonder  that  the  Japanese  love  their  sacred 
mountain ;  a  far  more  dull  and  phlegmatic  people  would  have 
their  veins  stirred  by  such  a  sight. 

This  first  view  of  Fujiyama  which  we  enjoyed  was  per- 
haps the  best  that  could  be  obtained.  The  early  snow  of 
approaching  winter  clothed  him  in  a  spotless  ermine  mantle 
to  his  very  feet.     Every  part  of  this  most  symmetrical  and 


194  OUR  WELCOME  TO  JAPAN. 

lovely  cone  was  of  dazzling  whiteness,  and,  as  the  Eastern 
sun  arose,  a  rosy  tinge  spread  its  glow  from  the  topmost 
crater  to  the  lowest  fringe  of  the  glistening  garment. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  steamer  a  volcano  was  puffing 
out  huge  volumes  of  smoke.  "  Fiery  Jack  "  the  sailors  called 
it.  On  both  sides  the  carefully  cultivated  fields  of  this  park- 
like fairy  land  came  down  close  to  the  water's  edge.  Little 
sailboats  and  Japanese  junks  danced  about  us  on  every  side. 
Everything  on  sea  and  shore  looked  its  brightest  and  best. 
The  terrors  of  the  stormy  passage  were  forgotten,  and  we 
felt  that  nature  conspired  with  the  experiences  of  the  past 
few  days  to  make  our  welcome  to  Japan  most  bright  and 
memorable. 

A  few  hours  later  and  the  Peru  dropped  her  anchor 
in  Yokohama  harbor,  and  we  gladly  exchanged  the  deck  of 
the  ship  for  more  substantial  terra  Jirma. 

Yokohama,  with  its  large  English  concession,  its  substan- 
tial warehouses,  and  its  harbor  full  of  the  vessels  of  all 
nations,  is  not  a  typical  Japanese  city,  and  yet  there  are 
many  things  to  interest  the  traveler,  who  has  not  as  yet  been 
sated  with  the  temples  and  palaces,  the  picturesque  villages 
and  beautiful  natural  scenery  of  fair  Japan. 

For  instance,  as  we  stepped  ashore  from  the  steam  launch 
a  whole  army  of  jinrikisha  men  came  after  us,  each  insisting 
that  we  should  patronize  his  particular  baby  carriage.  But 
first  our  baggage  had  to  be  passed  through  the  Custom 
House,  and  we  were  obliged  for  a  time  to  disappoint  our 
eager  friends,  who  served  as  hackmen  and  horses  combined. 

While  we  were  undergoing  the  trying  ordeal  of  a  Custom 
House  inspection  some  fifty  sailors  from  a  British  man-of- 
war  rowed  ashore.  Then  what  rushing  and  jamming  and 
pushing  and  shouting  there  was  on  the  part  of  the  jinrikisha 
men!     The   eager  cabmen   at  Forty-second  street  station. 


CURIOUS   OFFICIALS.  195 

New  York,  are  not  to  be  compared  to  their  brethren  of 
Yokohama.  Two  jinrikisha  men  pitched  upon  each  jolly 
tar  and  bore  him  away  bodily  to  one  of  the  little  carriages 
in  waiting,  and  in  less  time  than  it  takes  to  tell  the  story 
every  sailor  was  bundled  into  a  jinrikisha  and  whisked 
away ;  we  fear  to  no  very  reputable  abiding  place,  for  land- 
sharks  abound  in  Yokohama  as  in  every  seaport,  and  the 
jinrikisha  men  have  the  reputation  of  being  subsidized  by  the 
worst  of  them. 

Going  through  the  Custom  House  is  oftentimes  a  serious 
matter  in  Japan,  not  that  the  duties  are  very  high,  but  the 
Custom  House  officials'  curiosit}'  is  very  great.  Anything 
done  up  in  a  bundle  seemed  to  excite  their  sus]Hcion  at  once, 
and  they  took  a  boyish  delight  in  finding  out  that  one  pack- 
age contained  a  few  worthless  seashells,  another  a  set  of 
chess  men,  each  one  of  which  had  to  be  taken  from  its  box 
and  examined  separately,  and  still  another,  a  double  Chinese 
sword,  which  one  official  took  from  its  sheath  and  made 
playful  lunges  at  all  the  others  who  surrounded  him. 

However,  a  little  harmless  curiosity  on  the  part  of  these 
youthful  inspectors  is  a  venial  fault  compared  with  the  rude- 
ness and  corruption  of  many  of  our  customs  officials  at 
home.  One  can  afford  to  spend  a  little  time  at  the  Custom 
House  while  the  inmost  recesses  of  his  trunks  are  being  ran- 
sacked, if  only  he  is  treated  with  politeness  meanwhile, 
and  is  not  brazenly  asked  to  '^  to  cross  the  palm ''  of  the  official, 
as  I  have  been  invited  to  do  ere  this  in  New  York  city. 

Now  that  we  have  actually  set  foot  on  Japanese  soil,  we 
may  as  well  take  a  lesson  in  Japanese  politeness,  for  from 
the  lowest  porter  to  the  emperor  himself  this  is  an  ingrained 
characteristic,  and  unless  we  are  careful,  our  brusque  and 
prompt  western  way  may  shock  this  courtliest  of  all 
peoples. 


196  A   LESSON   IN  POLITENESS. 

Even  the  Custom  House  officials  bow  low  when  we 
present  our  keys  and  request  them  to  examine  our  trunks, 
and  the  jinrikisha  men  almost  bend  themselves  to  the  dust 
before  us  in  their  polite  entreaties  that  we  favor  them  with 
our  patronage. 

As  we  go  up  the  street,  if  we  step  into  a  Japanese  store 
to  buy  so  much  as  a  sheet  of  paper,  we  are  greeted  with 
a  low  salaam  by  the  proprietor,  who  deems  it  quite  awkward 
to  go  directly  to  business  without  a  few  polite  preliminary 
genuflections. 

When  we  reach  our  boarding-house  a  smiling  man-ser- 
vant stands  upon  the  piazza  to  take  our  baggage  with  the 
most  gracious  bow,  and  the  door  is  opened  by  a  maid-ser- 
vant who  almost  touches  the  floor  with  her  forehead,  so  low 
is  her  obeisance  as  she  admits  us  within  the  penetralia. 

When  we  go  upon  the  platform  to  make  an  address  our 
audience  often  rises  and  bows,  and  when  we  begin  to  speak 
it  is  the  proper  thing  to  make  as  low  a  salute  as  our  Ameri- 
can stiffness  and  previous  training  will  allow.  Upon  this 
the  audience  all  bow  most  graciously  once  more.  At  the 
conclusion  of  the  address  the  speaker  bows  again,  and  the 
audience  returns  the  salute. 

But  it  is  when  we  receive  callers  that  the  most  trying 
politeness  is  expected.  The  caller  bows  and  we  bow,  and 
then  the  caller  bows  again  and  we  bow  still  lower.  Again, 
our  Japanese  visitor  bends  his  body  in  a  third  genuflection, 
and  we  follow  suit,  doing  our  best  to  hoio  in  Japanese  if  we 
cannot  speak  Japanese. 

If  we  were  well  trained  we  should  not  lift  up  our  stooping 
figure  until  our  visitor  had  begun  to  raise  himself  from  his 
salutatory  posture,  and  we  furtively  glance  out  of  the  corners 
of  our  eyes  to  see  if  he  is  not  almost  through  with  his  bow- 
ing.     Sometimes  a  peculiar  little  gutteral  grunt  indicates 


GENUFLECTIONS  AND   CIRCUMLOCUTIONS.  197 

that  the  visitor  has  finished  his  genuflections,  and  that  we 
can  raise  our  own  bodies  to  an  upright  posture  with  pro- 
priety. I  very  much  fear  that  I  have  many  times  brolcen 
all  the  laws  in  the  Japanese  code  of  propriety  and  courtesy^ 
but  I  trust  I  shall  be  forgiven,  and  that  my  rudeness  will  be 
charged  to  a  lack  of  early  training,  and  to  my  imperfect 
western  notions  of  civility. 

One  important  factor  in  the  Japanese  obeisance  is  to  get 
the  hinge  in  the  right  part  of  your  anatomy.  The  brusque 
Yankee  and  stiff  Englishman  bow  simply  with  their  heads 
and  the  hinge  they  use  is  at  the  top  of  their  spinal  columns, 
but  no  such  indifferent  bobbing  of  the  head  will  satisfy  the 
Japanese  demands.  One  must  put  the  hinge  lower  down,  at 
the  base  of  his  spinal  column,  and  bow  with  his  whole  body 
instead  of  the  top  of  his  head.  A  few  days  of  practice  will 
make  one  fairly  proficient  in  this  superficial  part  of  the 
Japanese  code  of  etiquette. 

But  not  only  is  their  politeness  a  matter  of  bows  and 
genuflections ;  it  is  as  fully  indicated  in  their  language. 
There  is  a  polite  language  Avhicli  is  quite  different  from  that 
used  on  ordinary  occasions,  and  cannot  even  be  understood 
by  those  familiar  only  with  the  colloquial  tongue.  Even  the 
humblest  people  use  the  politest  circumlocutions  on  every 
possible  occasion. 

For  instance,  when  Ave  knock  at  the  door,  the  person 
inside  cries  out  "  Ohairi,"  which  means,  "  We  welcome  your 
honorable  return."  When  one  greets  a  friend  on  the  street 
he  says,  "  Ohayo,"  which  means  literally,  "Honorable 
early  "  ;  or  if  translated  into  Irish  it  would  be :  "  The  top  o' 
the  mornin'  to  yez ! " 

It  is  said  an  Ohio  statesman  Avas  once  sent  to  a  certain 
port  in  Japan  as  consul.  As  he  landed  on  the  shores  of  the 
countrv  Avhich  AA'as  to  be  his  home  he  heard  one  and  another 


198  BY   RAIL   TO   TOKIO. 

say  in  very  good  English  as  he  thought,  Ohio  (Ohayo).  "  I 
declare,"  said  this  son  of  the  Buckeye  state,  "I  knew  they 
were  a  well  educated  people  in  this  land,  but  I  didn't  suppose 
they  knew  the  very  state  I  came  from." 

A  friend  of  mine  tells  me  that  his  Japanese  servant  came 
to  him  one  day  and  said,  as  he  bowed  low  to  the  floor,  "Will 
my  most  worthy  master  suffer  his  most  humble  servant  to 
visit  the  honorable  bath  that  he  may  wash  his  filthy  body?" 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  after  such  a  polite  request  permis- 
sion was  at  once  granted. 

Japanese  politeness  consists  not  only  in  loading  the  per- 
sons spoken  to  with  all  kinds  of  complimentary  adjectives, 
but  also  in  depreciating  one's  self.  Such  a  colloquy  as  this  is 
often  heard  in  Japanese  highways : 

"How  is  your  honorable  wife  this  morning?" 

"I  thank  you,  honorable  sir,  my  fool  of  a  wife  is  very 
well  this  morning." 

And  yet  the  second  speaker  may  be  a  most  loving  and 
exemplary  husband ;  he  only  wishes  to  be  properly  polite  in 
depreciating  his  own.  v 

There  is  not  very  much  to  detain  one  in  Yokohama,  and 
we  will  soon  take  the  train  for  Tokio,  distant  one  hour  by 
rail.  There  seems  to  be  an  incongruity  between  the  rush- 
ing, bustling  life  of  a  railway  station,  and  the  Oriental 
throngs  that  crowd  it.  The  wooden  clogs,  worn  by  men, 
women,  and  children,  clatter  on  the  stone  floor  of  the  station 
like  so  many  castanets  and  make  almost  a  deafening  sound. 
Instead  of  spruce  business  men  and  "tailor-made  girls,"  such 
as  one  is  accustomed  to  see  thronging  our  railway  cars  at 
home,  people  clad  in  practically  the  same  garb  which  was  in 
fashion  a  thousand  years  ago,  step  into  these  most  modern  of 
all  vehicles  to  be  whirled  away  as  fast  as  steam  can  carry 
them.     Something  seems  to  be  out  of  place;    whether  the 


PROGRESSIVE   MODERN  JAPAN.  199 

Japanese  costume  and  wooden  clogs,  or  our  nineteenth  cen- 
tury mode  of  locomotion,  I  shall  not  pretend  to  say. 

However,  there  seems  to  be  no  thought  of  incongruity  on 
the  part  of  our  fellow  passengers,  for  the  Japanese  have 
taken  to  railroads  and  steamships,  to  telephones  and  electric 
lights,  as  though  they  were  to  the  manner  born. 

The  modern  Japanese  is  nothing  if  not  progressive. 
Every  new  invention,  every  latest  labor-saving  contrivance, 
he  is  ready  to  examine  and  adopt  if  it  commends  itself  to 
his  judgment.  "Well-appointed  railroads  connect  one  end  of 
Japan  with  another.  A  perfect  network  of  telegraph  wires 
connect  all  leading  cities.  Incandescent  electric  lights  often 
flash  from  the  most  humble  stores  and  dwellings.  In  the 
leading  cities  the  postman  delivers  his  message  six  times  a 
day,  and  wherever  we  go  we  find  that  Japan's  senses  are  all 
alert  to  the  first  intimations  of  progress  in  any  direction. 

In  some  respects  the  Japanese  railway  system  is  even 
better  than  ours.  At  least,  more  care  is  taken  of  life  and 
limb,  no  grade  crossings  are  allowed  at  stations,  and  fatal 
accidents  are  of  very  rare  occurrence. 

The  cars  are  mostly  after  the  English  pattern,  and  di- 
vided into  first,  second,  and  third-class  compartments.  The 
first-class  compartments  are  very  rarely  used  in  Japan,  even 
by  "  lords,  fools,  and  Americans."  In  fact,  after  riding 
many  hundred  miles  on  Japanese  railroads,  I  remember  to 
have  seen  but  a  single  occupant  of  a  first-class  carriage. 
The  second-class  is  used  somewhat  sparingly,  while  the  third- 
class  on  every  train  is  crowded  with  vivacious  Japanese 
travelers. 

As  glass  is  a  modern  invention  which,  strangely  enough, 
has  not  been  largely  introduced  into  country  districts,  Jap- 
anese windows  generally  being  made  of  rice  paper,  the  glass 
car  windows  in  third-class  compartments  are  crossed  with 


200  OUR   FELLOW   PASSENGERS. 

lines  of  white  paint,  so  that  native  travelers  from  the  rural 
districts,  who  never  saw  glass  before,  may  not  unwittingly 
put  their  heads  through  the  windows.  The  bills  of  the  Im- 
perial Railway  Company  for  broken  glass  became  so  large 
that  at  last  this  device  for  showing  the  rural  passenger  that 
there  was  something  between  him  and  the  outside  world 
was  adopted. 

If  you  please,  my  readers,  we  will  take  a  second-class- 
car  to  Tokio,  and,  without  being  rude,  we  can  furtively  ex- 
amine our  fellow  passengers  and  their  attire.  After  a  few 
days  we  shall  become  so  accustomed  to  the  national  dress 
it  will  be  difficult  for  us  to  describe  it ;  so  we  must  make 
the  most  of  our  first  impressions. 

On  the  seat  in  front  of  us  is  a  Japanese  gentleman  in 
European  clothes,  but  his  ill-fitting  coat  and  shabby  Derby 
hat  are  not  nearly  so  picturesque  as  the  garments  of  the 
friend  by  his  side.  Not  being  a  woman  or  a  man  milliner,  I 
cannot  describe  these  garments  with  very  good  effect,  but 
must  content  myself  with  saying  that  our  Japanese-clad  fel- 
low passenger  wears  tight-fitting  trousers,  nearly  hidden  by 
a  loose  upper  garment  coming  nearly  to  his  feet,  and  bound 
about  the  waist  by  a  kind  of  scarf. 

In  fact,  our  friend  on  the  opposite  seat,  since  it  is  cold 
weather,  seems  to  wear  several  ujDper  garments,  for  this  is  a, 
way  the  Japanese  have  of  keeping  warm.  They  do  not 
build  fires  or  introduce  steam  heat,  or  even  close  their  win- 
dows and  doors,  but  they  add  one  garment  to  another,  until 
it  is  difficult  to  tell  how  large  the  kernel  under  the  many 
husks  may  be.  The  story  is  told  of  a  professor  in  a  famous, 
school  who  had  the  reputation  of  wearing  more  clothes  than 
any  other  man  on  the  faculty.  The  students,  exaggerating 
the  truth,  as  students  will,  circulated  the  story  that  he  com- 
monly wore  thirty-one  suits  of  clothes.     A  friend  of  mine 


SUPERFLUOUS   COATS. 


301 


made  bold  to  approach  him  on  the  subject,  telling  him  the 
story  that  was  circulating  among  the  students,  whereupon 
he  gravely  replied  that  he  could  not  account  for  such  a 
report,  as  he  had  never,  to  his  knowledge,  worn  more  than 
thirteen  suits  at  one  time,  unless  the  students  had  transposed 
the  figures  (31  for  13),  and  so  the  mistake  had  arisen. 

But  the  gentleman  in  front  of  us  in  the  car  probably 
wears  not  more  than  half  a  dozen  garments  on  this  journey, 
and  makes  up  for  his  superfluous  coats  by  wearing  nothing 


DRESS  OF  JAPANESE  WOMEN,    SHOWING   THE   OBI. 

on  his  head.  On  entering  the  car  he  slips  off  his  wooden 
shoes  very  easily,  as  they  are  only  held  on  his  feet  by  a  cord 
passing  between  his  big  toe  and  the  next  one ;  then,  putting 
his  stocking  feet  on  the  foot-warmer  filled  with  hot  water, 
the  only  method  of  heating  these  cars,  he  settles  himself 
comfortably  for  his  journey. 

ISTot  far  from  the  gentleman  opposite  sits  his  wife.     Her 
garments  are,  of  course,  quite  beyond  my  powers  of  descrip- 
tion.    It  is  only  necessary  to  say  that  they  are  loose,  flow- 
ing, and  graceful,  and  that  on  her  back  is  a  curious  affair 
13 


202 


AN   INDICATION   OF   RANK. 


called  an  "  obi,"  or  sash,  on  which  she  greatly  prides  her- 
self. It  is  made  of  finest  silk,  and  her  rank  in  society  is 
very  largely  indicated  by  the  obi  which  she  wears.  Her 
head,  too,  is  bare,  though  her  profusion  of  black  hair  is  so 
fantastically  arranged  that  she  does  not  need  any  other 
head-gear.  On  her  feet  are  the  same  kind  of  clumsy  wooden 
shoes  her  husband  ^^'ears. 

Between  them  is  their  little  child,  the  joy  and   pride. 


i 


A   RURAL   SCENE   IN   JAPAN. 


doubtless,  of  the  father's  and  mother's  heart.  He  is  arrayed 
in  a  most  gorgeous  suit,  a  miniature  reproduction  of  his 
mother's,  only  in  brighter  colors.  Joseph  himself  was  not 
more  favored  when  a  boy  than  this  little  Japanese  lad. 

But  the  objects  of  special  interest  are  not  all  within  the 
car  windows,  by  any  means.  We  never  get  tired  of  the 
ever-changing  panorama  without,  made  up  of  mountain  and 
meadow,  forest  trees  and  cultivated  fields,  bright  costumes 
and  quaint  cottages,  and  many  a  scene  of  rustic  comfort  and 
content. 


o    tt 


A  CHARMING   PANORAMA. 


205 


One  of  the  most  interesting  sights  is  a  tea  plantation. 
Many  of  these  we  skirt  in  our  railway  journeys  in  Japan. 
The  long  row  of  tea  plants  look  like  the  bunches  of  box  with 
which  the  borders  of  old-fashioned  flower  gardens  were  once 
made,  only  the  tea  plants  are  much  larger.  When  the  crop  is 
matured  the  tea  garden  is  full  of  pickers,  native  men  and 
women,  in  bright  costumes,  working  side  by  side,  their  gay 
attire  contrasting  prettily  with  the  fresh  green  of  the  tea 
leaves.  These  bright  beings,  who,  we  fear,  are  not  as  radi- 
ant as  they  look,  stop  their  work  as  the  train  rumbles  by,  to 
gaze  after  the  retreating  cars,  stirred  by  the  same  wonder 
which  a  rushing  railway  train  always  excites  in  every  part 
of  the  world,  however  common  the  sight  may  be. 

Thus  we  jom'ney  on,  stopping  at  picturesque  little  vil- 
lages, with  thatch-roofed  cottages ;  past  miles  and  miles 
of  fields  cultivated  with  most  accurate  nicety,  every  one 
looking  like  a  market  garden  in  the  suburbs  of  a  great  city ; 
past  beautiful  bamboo  forests  ;  past  shrines  and  large  tem- 
ples and  emblems  of  Buddhist  worship,  set  up,  as  m  the  days 
of  old,  "  under  every  green  tree  " ;  past  beautiful  hills  and 
fertile  valleys,  ^vinding  rivers  and  canals  teeming  with  life, 
until,  all  too  soon,  so  interesting  is  this  brief  journey,  the 
cars  roll  into  the  station  of  the  great  city  of  Tokio  —  the 
largest  in  all  the  realm,  the  capital  of  the  kingdom,  the  Mi- 
kado's city  of  the  Mikado's  empire. 


~"^^ 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  MIKADO'S  CITY  AND  THE  MIKADO'S  SUBJECTS. 

Tokio,  its  Parks,  its  Temples,  and  its  Palace  —  Its  University  —  A  Study 
of  Fish  Parasites  —  What  Missionaries  have  done  —  The  Seismological 
Department  —  An  Artificial  Earthquake  —  Exceptional  Earthquake 
Privileges — Wheat  and  Chaff  —  Canton  and  Tokio,  or  China  veisus 
Japan  —  The  Frenchman  of  the  East  —  A  Japanese  House  —  No  Doors, 
No  Windows,  No  Chimneys  —  A  Walk  in  a  Country  Village  —  The 
Country  Bakery  —  A  Rice  Mill  —  Division  of  Labor  —  An  Initiation  into 
the  Art  of  Orange  Eating  —  The  Japanese  Shoe  Shop  —  The  Villainous 
Daikon  —  Prices  in  Japan  —  A  Pot  of  Tea  for  Two  Cents  —  A  Japanese 
Dinner  in  a  Japanese  Hotel  —  The  Curious  Crowds  at  the  Window  — 
Character  Studies  —  The  Motormen  of  the  East  —  Surprising  Endurance 

—  The  Hilarious  Jinrikisha  Men  —  The  Waitress  and  her  Odd  Position 

—  Paying  our  Reckoning. 


(AMOUS  and  imposing  as  are  its 
many  "lions,"  the  one  thing  that 
impressed  me  most  strongly  in 
Tokio  was  the  Imperial  Univer- 
sity. To  find  in  this  Oriental 
land  a  university  in  many  re- 
spects the  peer  of  Cambridge  or 
Oxford,  Heidelberg  or  Harvard, 
is  a  surprise  to  most  people  who 
considered  themselves  tolerably 
well  versed  in  Japanese  affairs. 
The  buildings  of  the  Imperial 
University,  to  be  sure,  are  not  equal  to  the  venerable  piles 
which  lend  their  ancient  charm  to  an  English  or  German 
University  town;  but  even  in  buildings  and  equipment  the 

Imperial  University  of  Japan  is  not  far  behind  many  vener- 

(206) 


A  scientist's  ambition.  ?07 

able  schools  of  other  lands.  But  when  one  comes  to  examine 
the  work  in  biology,  chemistry,  the  science  of  engineering, 
and  other  departments  of  learning  leading  to  practical  re- 
sults, he  finds  this  is  not  a  whit  behind  the  great  schools  of 
the  world. 

In  the  biological  department  we  saw  a  graduate  student 
famous  the  world  over  for  his  studies  of  fish  parasites.  For 
years  he  has  been  making  microscopic  examinations  of  these 
minute  enemies  which  prey  upon  the  finny  tribe,  and  his  re- 
searches have  provoked  the  favorable  comment  of  scientific 
men  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  As  I  approached  his  labora- 
tory he  had  just  discovered  a  new  parasite,  which  he  showed 
me  with  considerable  satisfaction,  imprisoned  as  it  was 
between  the  glasses  of  his  slide.  He  expects  to  devote  his 
life  to  the  study  of  fish  parasites,  though  he  is  gradually 
coming  to  the  belief  that  his  ambition  has  taken  too  wide  a 
range,  and  that  he  ought  to  devote  himself  to  the  parasites 
of  marine  fish  altogether. 

As  he  is  now  a  very  young  man,  Avith  doubtless  forty  or 
fifty  3^ears  of  hard  work  before  him,  I  should  think  that  he 
might  before  he  dies  make  considerable  progress  in  the  pur- 
suit of  his  favorite  study,  if  he  confines  himself  to  a  suffi- 
ciently narrow  range.  I  sincerely  hope  that  my  friend  of 
the  Imperial  University  will  not  have  the  same  cause  for  re- 
gret as  the  famous  Greek  student  of  the  dative  case,  who 
reproached  himself  on  his  death-bed  that  he  had  taken  so 
large  a  subject  and  had  not  devoted  himself  altogether  to 
the  dative  case  of  the  Greek  article.  This  example  does  not 
stand  alone.  In  other  departments  also  the  same  careful 
and  highly  specialized  work  is  accomplished. 

In  the  early  days  the  University  was  manned  largely  by 
foreign  professors,  and  the  chief  credit  for  its  establishment 
and  progress  is  due  largely  to  Christian  missionaries,  as  was 


208  EARTHQUAKE   PRIVILEGES. 

the  case  with  almost  every  high  grade  college  in  the  far 
East.  In  Japan  especial  honor  is  due  to  Dr.  Yerbeck  of  the 
Dutch  Reformed  Board,  who,  in  the  beginning,  more  than 
an}'  other  man  influenced  the  government  in  the  establish- 
ment and  development  of  the  university  idea.  Of  late 
years,  however,  as  in  all  other  departments,  the  government 
is  bringing  the  Imperial  University  and  all  lower  schools 
more  and  more  under  the  control  of  Japanese  teachers. 
"Japan  for  the  Japanese,"  is  the  cry  of  recent  days,  and 
foreign  teachers  are  largely  being  discharged  and  their 
places  filled  by  native  Japanese,  even  in  the  teaching  of  the 
English  language  itself.  While  willing  to  adopt  everything 
that  they  think  is  best  in  modern  civilization,  the  Japanese 
are  evidently  bound  to  be  free  from  dependence  on  foreign- 
ers at  the  earliest  possible  moment. 

As  one  walks  through  the  halls,  enters  the  spacious 
library,  and  views  the  splendid  equipment  of  the  engineering 
department  of  the  university,  he  stands  amazed  at  the 
modern  progress  of  this  ancient  nation.  There  is  no  phase 
of  scientific  thought  familiar  to  the  Western  world  which  is 
not  almost  equally  familiar  to  this  Island  Empire  of  the 
Orient.  Every  latest  contrivance,  every  labor-saving  ma- 
chine is  examined  alid  appropriated  if  considered  worthy. 
In  the  Seismological  department  of  the  university  are  prob- 
ably the  most  accurate  and  delicate  instruments  for  comput- 
ing the  direction  and  vibration  of  earthquakes  to  be  found  in 
the  world.  The  professor  in  this  department  set  the  delicate 
clock-like  machinery  in  motion  for  us,  thus  producing  a 
miniature  artificial  earthquake  that  we  might  see  how  the 
nicely  adjusted  machines,  with  their  automatic  fingers, 
marked  the  slightest  vibration  in  the  earth's  crust.  Tokio, 
by  the  way,  is  a  verj^  favorable  place  for  such  a  department 
of  study,  for  scores  of  times  a  year  it  thrills  and  quakes  with 


THE  CROWN  OF  JAPAN  S   CIVILIZATION.  209 

subterranean  movements.  In  fact  its  earthquake  opportu- 
nities are  unique  and  exceptional. 

The  contrast  between  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  is  dis- 
cerned by  no  one  more  plainly  than  by  him  who  travels 
direct  from  Canton  to  Tokio.  In  the  former  city  is  repre- 
sented the  old  educational  system  of  the  Orient,  in  the 
dreary  examination  hall,  with  its  eleven  hundred  cells,  empty 
and  deserted,  except  for  nine  days,  in  the  course  of  three 
years.  The  supreme  test  of  scholarshi])  during  those  nine 
days  of  examination  is,  as  I  have  already  stated,  the  ability 
to  write  an  essay  on  some  text  of  Confucius  ;  the  sole  stand- 
ard for  civil  service  promotion,  a  good  literary  style,  and 
aptness  to  write  some  incomprehensible  pages  upon  an  un- 
fathomable subject.  ]S"o  languages  are  studied  there,  no  In- 
ductive Philosophy,  no  Chemistry,  Biology,  Geology,  Botany, 
no  engineering  or  minmg  departments,  no  instruction  in 
ship-building  or  architecture  ;  but  one  dreary  monotonous 
grind  on  Confucius  and  Confucianism.  The  old  sage  still 
dominates  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  China,  except 
the  few  who  are  emancipated  by  the  religion  of  Christ. 

In  Japan  how  different !  Here  are  railroads  and  steam- 
boats, the  latest  electrical  inventions,  and  mest  modern  theo- 
ries of  ship-building  and  mining,  agriculture  and  the  me- 
chanic arts,  and  the  crown  of  all  this  modern  civilization  is 
the  Imperial  University  of  Tokio.  Here  Confucius  takes 
the  back  seat,  and  Galileo  and  Francis  Bacon,  Isaac  Newton 
and  Herschel,  Huxley  and  Darwin  come  to  the  front. 

Perhaps  this  sudden  advance  in  modern  civilization  is 
not  altogether  an  unmixed  good.  Doubtless  many  evils 
have  followed  in  the  train  of  this  nineteenth  century  civiliz- 
ation which  has  :  wept  with  such  a  conquering  march  over 
the  empire  of  Japan.  Doubtless  there  has  been  much  chaff 
mixed  with  the  wheat,  and  sometimes,  in  all  probability,  the 


210  THE  FRENCHMAN   OF  THE   OLD   WORLD. 

wheat  has  been  thrown  away,  and  the  chaff  of  false  ])hil- 
osophy  and  materialism  retained.  Nevertheless,  the  con- 
trast between  the  thousand-year-old  Examination  Hall  of 
Canton  and  the  Imperial  University  of  Tokio  reveals  the 
inherent  difference  between  the  two  great  nations  of  the 
Orient.  English-speaking  people  are  too  apt  to  lump 
Orientals  together,  and  to  see  but  little  difference  between 
the  almond-eyed  nations  of  the  world. 

An  American  religious  paper  once  gravely  announced 
that  "  Rev.  Mr.  So-and-So  was  about  to  start  as  a  missionary 
to  China  and  Japan,"  as  though  either  of  these  nations  were 
not  quite  enough  to  tax  the  powers  of  the  average  Ameri- 
can missionary.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  far  more  dif- 
ference between  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  than  between  the 
Englishman  and  Frenchman,  or  the  German  and   Russian. 

The  Japanese  is  the  Frenchman  of  the  Old  World,  as  has 
often  been  remarked ;  volatile,  mercurial,  easily  moved  to 
adopt  a  new  ])lan,  but  often  fickle  in  his  rentention  of  it,  he 
is  endowed  with  the  strong  points,  and  doubtless  many  of 
the  weaknesses,  of  the  Celtic  nations  of  Europe.  To  watch 
the  development  of  this  new  France  in  these  Eastern  seas 
will  be  a  most  inieresting  study  for  the  future  ethnologist. 

In  one  respect,  however,  Japan  is  different  from  France, 
for  it  possesses  no  vast  capital  of  overwhelming  importance, 
like  Paris.  If  "  Paris  is  France,"  Tokio,  though  the  most 
important  city,  is  by  no  means  Japan. 

A  few  days  after  our  arrival  in  Yokohama  w^e  took  a 
journey  into  rural  Japan.  Here  in  the  country  districts  we 
find  the  Japanese  at  home.  He  has  adopted  no  foreign  cos- 
tume, and  put  on  no  Parisian  airs.  He  has  the  telegraph 
and  electric  light,  to  be  sure,  and  in  many  places  the  rail- 
road train ;  but  in  all  essential  particulars  the  Japan  of  to- 
day is  the  Japan  of  a  thousand  years  ago. 


A  VILLAGE   STREET, 


211 


Let  me  take  you  on  a  walk  this  bright,  crisp  December 
morning  through  a  village  street  in  Japan  —  such  a  village 
street  as  I  have  seen  a  hundred  times  during  my  brief  stay 
in  that  fair  land.     The  villao;e  boasts  no  building-s  of  archi- 


^:#^^^ 


r/^^- 


IX   WINTER   COSTXJNrE. 


tectural  pretentions,  unless,  perhaps,  it  contains  an  old 
palace  of  Daimio  times.  Even  if  it  does,  the  palace  is 
probably  deserted  and  falling  into  ruin,  though  its  massive 
walls,  wide  water-filled  moats,  and  pagoda-like  stories  still 
tell  of  its  former  magnificence  in. feudal  times. 


212  HOUSEKEEPING   MADE   EASY. 

As  for  tlie  rest  of  the  village,  the  houses  generally  are 
very  humble  and  unpretentious,  usually  one-story  high,  with 
a  heavy  thatched  or  tiled  roof,  and  defended  from  the 
weather  by  thin  paper  screens.  A  modern  writer  has  said 
that  "  Japanese  houses  have  no  walls,  no  windows,  and  no 
chimneys."  Take  away  these  essentials,  and  one  may  well 
ask  what  would  be  left  but  a  huge  dry-goods  box.  This, 
however,  is  somewhat  of  an  exaggeration,  for  the  movable 
rice  paper  screens  answer  very  well  for  partition  walls,  and 
the  rice  paper  screens  themselves,  though  opaque,  answer  for 
windows,  through  which  a  "  dim  religious  light "  manages 
to  find  its  w^ay.  As  for  the  chimneys,  what  need  is  there 
of  them  when  the  stoves  contain  no  blaze  and  no  smoke,  but 
simply  a  little  handful  of  coals  in  the  middle  of  a  bed  of 
sand  ?  If  we  get  a  glimpse  into  one  of  the  Japanese  houses 
Ave  are  passing,  we  shall  see  very  little  furniture ;  two  or 
three  warm  quilts  for  each  person,  a  small  flat  cushion  on 
which  he  may  sit,  two  or  three  "  hibachis  "  or  fire  boxes,  a 
few  little  tables  not  more  than  six  inches  high,  and  some 
lamps,  cups,  bowls,  tubs,  and  saucepans  complete  the  house- 
hold furniture.  One  will  see  no  chairs,  knives,  forks,  or 
spoons,  no  carpets  nor  rugs,  no  pictures  on  the  walls.  How- 
ever, there  are  some  very  good  substitutes  for  all  these  neces- 
sary articles.  The  screens  are  often  beautifully  painted,  and 
scrolls  on  the  walls,  changed  often,  add  life  and  color  to  the 
room.  There  are  no  chairs,  to  be  sure,  but  what  does  one 
want  of  a  chair  when  he  can  sit  on  the  soles  of  his  feet  ? 
And  as  for  knives,  forks,  and  spoons,  chopsticks  are  quite  as 
handy  Avhen  one  knows  how  to  use  them,  and  far  less  trou- 
blesome. What  would  not  our  American  housewives,  who 
are  "  cumbered  with  much  serving,"  and  grow  prematurely 
old  Avith  much  dish-Avashing,  give  for  these  neat  and  inex- 
pensive substitutes  for  table  cutlery ! 


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"NO   CHARGE   FOR   SHOWING   GOODS."  215 

"We  may  not  linger  too  long  at  the  open  doorway  of  this 
Japanese  house  lest  we  be  deemed  impolite  even  by  these 
people,  w^ho  themselves  have  more  than  their  fair  share  of 
"Yankee  curiosity,"  so  we  will  pass  on. to  have  a  look  at 
some  of  the  stores,  which  are  open  to  the  inspection  of  the 
passer-by.  There  are  no  show  windows,  for  the  whole  store 
is  one  show  window  with  all  its  goods  on  exhibition.  Here 
is  a  bakery,  for  instance,  with  many  kinds  of  thin,  tempting- 
looking  wafers,  and  much  gaudy  candy,  which  one  finds,  on 
investigation,  has  for  its  largest  component  rice  flour  with  a 
very  small  modicum  of  sugar.  There  are  bushel  baskets 
full  of  rolls  and  little  loaves  with  variegated  streaks  of  green 
and  red  running  through  them.  If  w^e  should  go  a  little 
w^avs  into  the  countrv  we  should  find  the  rice  flour  mill 
where  the  chief  ingredient  of  these  showy  little  cakes  was 
made.  Here,  under  the  same  projecting  roof,  one  coolie 
threshes  the  rice  straw  over  the  iron  teeth  of  a  primitive  flail, 
which  looks  like  a  carpenter's  wooden  horse,  wiiile  another 
winnows  the  grain  by  pouring  it  over  a  rude  sieve,  allowing 
the  wind  to  blow  aw^ay  the  chaff,  while  still  another  coolie 
grinds  the  rice  in  a  mill  laboriously  turned  by  hand.  Kext 
to  the  bakery  comes  a  fruit  store,  perhaps,  where  one  sees 
tempting  piles  of  "kid  glove"  oranges,  great,  luscious,  rosy 
persimmons,  yellow  loquots,  and  piles  of  little  oranges  not 
bigger  than  the  end  of  one's  thumb. 

But  my  readers  will  pardon  a  digression  here,  for  while 
looking  at  these  tempting  piles  of  Japanese  fruit,  I  will 
initiate  him  into  the  process  of  eating  a  Japanese  orange. 
Every  nation  has  its  peculiar  method  of  extracting  the  juices 
of  this  tempting  fruit.  Perhaps  nations  might  be  classified 
according  to  their  ways  of  eating  oranges.  The  American, 
at  least  the  hotel-patronizing  American,  cuts  his  "Florida" 
in  two  in  the  middle,  scoops  out  the  rich  juice  with  his 


216 


THE   POLITE  ART   OF   ORANGE   EATING. 


orange  spoon,  and  accomplishes  his  task  deftly  and  neatly. 
The  Australian  cuts  into  eight  sections  the  product  of  his 
semi-tropical  groves  and  is  thus  able  to  eat  his  breakfast 
fruit  with  great  expedition.  The  small  boy  of  all  nations 
bores  a  hole  in  the  end  of  his  orange  and  unceremoniously 
sucks  its  contents,  leaving  the  fair  looking  skin  dry  and 
juiceless.  The  Japanese  orange,  however,  may  be  eaten  like 
a  grape,  as  it  naturally  falls  apart  into  a  dozen  different 


A  JAPANESE   FRUIT   STORE. 


wedge-shaped  segments.  The  expert  grasps  the  thin  end  of 
the  wedge  firmly  between  his  thumb  and  first  finger,  presses 
the  juicy  section,  held  perpendicularh^  and  not  horizontally, 
between  his  teeth,  and  thus  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye 
extracts  all  the  sweetness  from  the  skin  of  one  section. 
Thus  he  treats  section  after  section  of  his  orange,  eating 
them  as  rapidly  as  so  many  Hamburg  grapes.  In  fact,  an 
expert  "orangsman"  will  make  nothing  of  getting  through 


CLOGS   AND   STRAW   SANDALS. 


217 


six  specimens  of  this  luscious  Japanese  fruit  while  the  aver- 
age American  is  toilsomely  digging  out  the  pulp  from  a 
single  native  of  the  orange  groves  of  Florida  or  California. 
Just  beyond  the  fruit  store  is  a  barber  shop,  for  hair  cut- 
ting and  shaving  is  a  great  business  in  Japan.  As  in  the 
other  stores,  everything  is  open  to  the  daylight,  there  are  no 
screens,  no  windows,  no  partitions.  The  shop  is  simph^  a 
recess  from  the  sidewalk  where  the  barber  and  his  customer 
are  sitting,  while  other  customers  are  waiting  the  familiar 
"next." 


M|l':"l| 


JAPANESE   UMBRELLA   MAKER. 


Then  comes  a  shoe  store,  perhaps,  but  we  see  no  "Oxford 
ties"  or  top  boots,  "Dongolas"  or  russet  tennis  shoes  dis- 
played; but  instead  we  see  rows  upon  rows  of  heavy 
wooden  clogs,  mud  shoes  on  wooden  stilts  three  or  four 
inches  high,  and  long  festoons  of  straw  sandals  hanging 
from  the  ceiling.  These  sandals  are  nothing  but  soles,  for 
there  is  no  need  of  an  upper  to  protect  the  foot,  but  simply  a 
strap  passing  between  the  big  toe  and  its  next  neighbor,  by 


218  BY  MARKET  AND  WORKSHOP. 

which  the  sandal  is  dexterously  held  in  place.  Perhaps  the 
shoe  dealer  also  trades  in  stockings  and  we  find  a  large 
assortment  of  curious  foot-wear  made  of  cloth  and  not  knit 
like  the  stockings  of  foreigners,  but  sewed  together  with 
a  compartment  especially  made  for  the  big  toe  by  itself  to 
fit  the  shoes  and  sandals  already  described.  Next  to  the 
shoe  store  is  an  umbrella  factory,  and  near  by  is  a  vegetable 
market.  Here  we  find  a  very  good  supply  of  the  vegetables 
of  the  season.  Sweet  potatoes  are  common  and  cheap,  sold 
not  only  raw  but  also  at  almost  every  street  corner,  smoking 
hot  from  the  pot  or  nicely  browned  from  the  brazier.  Pars- 
nips and  cabbage,  onions  and  celery,  spinach  and  lettuce 
also  find  a  place  in  these  stores. 

Everywhere  one  sees  piles  of  the  succulent  '•'■  dcdkon'''' \ 
along  the  railroad  stations,  in  the  fields,  borne  upon  the  stag- 
gering shoulders  of  men  and  women,  loaded  upon  bullock 
carts,  strung  upon  great  ropes  and  stretched  between  trees 
and  posts  to  dry,  cut  up  and  spread  upon  the  house  roofs  for 
desiccation,  until  one  is  tempted  after  all  these  sights  to  call 
Japan,  not  the  land  of  the  chrysanthemum,  but  the  country 
of  the  daikon.  Of  course,  the  green  grocer  whose  store  we 
are  inspecting  has  a  large  assortment  of  this  favorite  vegeta- 
ble on  hand.  The  daikon  is  a  sort  of  radish,  and  is  of  two 
varieties,  one  very  long,  sometimes  nearly  two  feet  in  length 
and  six  inches  through,  while  the  other  specimen  looks  like  a 
turnip  of  gigantic  proportions.  How  it  tastes  we  shall  find 
out  when  we  come  to  eat  our  dinner  at  a  Japanese  hotel. 

As  we  pass  another  open  recess  in  the  street  we  see  a 
potter  at  work  with  his  wheel ;  still  another  alcove  shows 
an  umbrella-maker  ;  a  third  reveals  a  rake-maker  plying  his 
task  with  strips  of  stiff  bamboo  for  the  rakes'  teeth,  while  a 
fourth  is  busy  making  the  lanterns  which  form  such  a  pictur- 
esque and  strilving  feature  of  night  life  in  Japan. 


THE  PARADISE  OF  LEAN  POCKETBOOKS. 


219 


Let  us  stop  and  make  a  few  purchases  as  we  pass  some 
of  these  odd  and  tempting  stores.  Your  pockets  and  mine, 
my  reader,  are  not  very  large,  perhaps,  but  Japan  is  the  par- 
adise of  lean  pocketbooks.  For  instance,  we  will  take  home 
to  show  our  friends  the  foot  gear  of  this  interesting  people, 
one  pair  of  straw  sandals,  one  of  wooden  shoes,  and  still 
another  of  liigh  clogs  for  muddy  weather,  and  three  paics  of 
stockings  to  go  with  our  shoes.     Our  purchases  make  quite 


IN   A  .JAPANESE   BARBER   SHOP. 


a  formidable  looking  bundle,  and  we  fear  we  may  not  have 
change  enough  to  pay  for  our  curiosities.  But  we  are  quite 
relieved  to  find  that  all  our  goods  come  to  only  seventeen 
sen,  five  rin,  something  less  than  12i  cents. 

Everywhere  in  Japan,  except  on  the  foreign  concessions, 
these  cheap  prices  prevail.  For  instance,  at  the  railroad  sta- 
tion I  purchased  an  earthen  teapot,  holding  at  least  a  quart 
of  hot  tea  and  with  a  cup  thrown  in,  for  the  extravagant 
price  of  three  sen,  or  about  two  cents,  United  States  currency. 


220  A    DOZEN   ORANGES   FOR  ONE   SEN. 

Desiring  to  have  some  unnecessary  hirsute  appendages 
removed,  I  was  told  that  the  price  of  hair  cutting  in  the 
Japanese  saloon  where  I  proposed  to  go  was  two  sen,  and  if 
I  wanted  to  be  shaved,  I  must  deplete  my  pocket  book  to 
the  extent  of  one  sen  more,  or  something  like  sLx  and  one- 
half  mills  for  a  clean  shave.  If,  however,  I  desired  the 
barber  to  come  to  my  house  to  perform  his  task,  I  would  be 
obliged  to  pay  him  the  enormous  sum  of  six  sen  (United 
States  mone}''  about  four  cents)  for  his  extra  trouble. 

The  jinriksha  man.  will  run  for  a  good  hour  toiling  up 
steep  hills  and  over  rough  roads,  and  at  the  end  of  the  five- 
mile  journey,  with  the  sweat  pouring  down  his  back,  will 
bow  his  most  gracious  thanks  if  presented  "with  the  value  of 
a  ten-cent  piece.  One  feels  that  he  is  taking  advantage  of  an 
innocent  and  unsuspecting  youth  when  he  first  pays  such  a 
trifling  sum  for  such  a  large  service,  but  these  jinrilvsha  men, 
like  their  brethren  of  the  horsey  fraternity  all  over  the 
world,  have  their  eye  teeth  cut,  and  it  is  more  likely  that  he 
has  taken  vou  in  to  the  extent  of  a  few  rin,  than  that  he  is- 
in  any  way  underpaid. 

At  one  time  I  handed  a  railway  platform  peddler  a  cop- 
per sen  (less  than  one  cent),  and  with  various  motions  gave 
him  to  understand  I  desired  the  value  of  the  coin  in  the 
oranges  which  he  held  in  his  tray,  whereupon  he  passed  into 
the  car  window  orange  after  orange  until  a  round  dozen  lay 
on  the  seat  beside  me.  Had  I  been  aware  that  I  was 
making  so  large  a  purchase  I  would  have  invested  but  half 
the  sum  at  one  time.  It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that 
the  oranges  were  not  very  large,  and  a  hungry  little  boy  by. 
my  side  soon  disposed  of  the  whole  purchase. 

l!^ow,  if  we  have  sufficiently  explored  our  village  street, 
let  us  go  into  a  Japanese  hotel  and  have  dinner^  for  sight- 
seeing is  hungry  work.     We  will  leave  our  shoes  at  the  door, 


DINNER  AT  A   TOY   HOTEL.  221 

for  it  would  be  almost  profanity  to  bring  our  muddy  foot- 
wear into  this  immaculate  little  toy  hotel. 

The  floor  is  covered  with  soft,  heavy  matting,  as  spotless 
as  table  damask,  and  three  or'  four  hibachis  are  set  around  in. 
different  parts  of  the  room  to  take  the  chill  from  the  frosty 
atmosphere,  which  the  paper  screens  very  freely  admit. 
But  still  we  are  cold,  in  spite  of  the  few  little  piles  of  glow- 
ing charcoal,  and  our  host  opens  another  screen  door,  show- 
ing his  Tiotatsu^  simply  a  square  hole  in  the  middle  of  the 
room,  filled  with  sand,  upon  which  is  a  little  larger  pile  of 
glowing  charcoal.  Over  this  hole  is  spread  a  large,  thick 
quilt  or  '-'■futon^''  and  under  this  futon  we  all  stick  our  feet, 
and  the  genial  warmth  from  the  kotatsu  being  all  econo- 
mized, our  lower  extremities  are  soon  quite  warm,  while  we 
hold  our  hands  over  the  hibachis,  and  so  are  soon  glowing 
with  warmth  at  both  extremities,  Avhatever  may  be  true  of 
the  rest  of  our  bodies. 

While  we  have  been  getting  warm,  dinner  has  been  cook- 
ing, and  now  a  Japanese  damsel  brings  it  in  on  red  lacquer 
trays.  This  solemn  proceeding  is  preceded  by  a  very  low 
bow,  the  waitress  falling  on  her  knees  and  touching  the  mat- 
ting with  her  forehead  before  each  one  of  us.  Then  she 
presents  the  dinner  tray  as  though  making  an  offering  to  the 
gods. 

In  the  tray  is  a  bowl  of  steaming  rice  "  without  any 
trimmings,"  as  one  of  our  party  remarked ;  no  sugar,  salt,  or 
condiments  of  any  kind  being  eaten  with  the  rice,  except 
such  as  we  find  in  the  bowl  of  thin  soup  accompanying  it. 
In  this  soup  is  a  little  wad  of  boiled  spinach,  several  large 
mushrooms,  and  a  slice  of  an  indescribable  mixture  ma-de  of 
fish  and  eggs,  which  is  not  altogether  unpalatable  if  one  has 
courage  to  investigate  it. 

Besides  the  soup  and  rice,  the  tray  contains  a  large  cup 

14 


900 


AN   EXECRABLE   PICKLE. 


of  lima  beans,  liard  and  unsavoiy,  a  saucer  of  fish  with  a 
little  "soi"  bv  its  side,  and  the  inevitable  daikon.  This 
daikon  is  not  the  radish  in  its  first  estate,  fresh  from  the 
dewy  fields,  but  a  most  execrable  kind  of  fermented  pickle. 
It  looks  white  and  fair  enough  to  tempt  the  most  delicate 
appetite,  but  its  taste  wofully  belies  its  toothsome  appear- 
ance. Some  one  has  described  it  as  a  cross  between  spoiled 
sauerkraut   and    decayed    Limburger   cheese,   and    perhaps 


THE   "V^LLArNOUS   DAIKON. 


there  is  no  better  description,  on  the  whole,  for  this  most 
villainous  of  vegetables. 

However,  when  the  gourmand  of  our  own  country  eats 
his  "high  game"  and  "woodcock  trail,"  and  rejoices  in 
his  sauerkraut  and  Limburger,  who  shall  say  the  Japa- 
nese partiality  for  pickled  daikon  is  more  absurd  than  the 
gastronomic  whims  of  the  American  or  European  epicure? 
However,  the  most  "difficult"  appetite  need  not  go  unsatis- 
fied even  in  a  Japanese  hotel,  for  the  oranges  are  delicious, 
and  the  tea  is  always  hot  and  good  even  if  minus  milk  and 
sugar. 


."iiiih.^ii4ig'iJJtjii£->— -^^ 


■—I  f~i 


INTERESTING   TO   OUTSIDERS.  235 

"While  we  are  eatino^  our  dinner  in  this  tov  tea-house 
a  group  of  inquiring  urchins  gathers  at  the  window  outside. 
If  they  are  interested  in  us,  we  are  quite  as  much  interested 
in  them,  and  extract  no  less  fun  from  the  inspection  than 
they  do  themselves.  As  in  most  such  crowds  in  every  land, 
the  "small  boy"  predominates.  Very  often  he  has  a 
smaller  boy  upon  his  back,  for  children  are  put  to  work 
early  in  this  land.  The  little  fellow  on  his  brother's  back, 
though  but  a  few  months  old,  is  quite  content  with  his 
elevated  position,  and  evidently  has  a  mild  curiosity  in  re- 
gard to  the  foreigners  who  are  making  such  awkward  work 
with  their  chop-sticks. 

Sometimes  the  baby  has  another  doll  baby  on  his  back, 
and  I  have  actually  seen  a  small  doll  on  the  big  doll's  back, 
the  big  doll  on  the  small  boy's  back,  and  the  small  boy  on 
his  big  brother's  back;  four  generations,  as  it  were,  to- 
gether. 

But  curiosity  is  not  confined  to  the  small  fry  altogether. 
Their  fathers  and  mothers  look  in  upon  us  with  wondering 
eyes ;  the  street  peddler  draws  near  and  forgets  to  hawk  his 
wares  for  a  few  moments;  the  sword  juggler  who  per- 
ambulates the  street  with  loud  cries  and  extravagant  antics 
for  the  sake  of  drawing  a  crowd  to  his  entertainment,  seems 
more  interested  in  these  strange  people  who  have  descended 
upon  his  native  village  than  in  his  own  performance. 

By  stopping  to  gaze  upon  us  one  curiosity  monger  at- 
tracts another  until  the  whole  doorway  is  filled,  and  we 
begin  to  feel  ourselves  the  observed  of  all  observers.  How- 
ever, it  is  a  very  good-natured  inspection,  and  as  I  have  said, 
we  repay  it  with  interest.  For  every  dirty-faced  little  street 
gamin,  and  every  scald-headed  baby  (for  many  of  them,  I 
am  sorry  to  say,  have  some  sort  of  scalp  disease),  every  bare- 
headed, open-eyed   bumpkin,   every   black-toothed   married 


226 


BEGGARS  AND   MOTOR-MEN. 


woman,  and  every  sweet-faced   "musmee"  (for  there  are 
many  pretty  girls  among  them)  is  an  especial  study. 

In  this  throng  at  the  hotel  doorway  (if  it  is  proper  tO' 
>peak  of  a  doorway  when  the  whole  side  of  the  house  is  one 
great  doorway)  we  are  likely  to  get  a  glimpse  of  a  Buddhist 

priest  with  his  queer  head- 
gear and  closely  shaven  head. 
Very  likely  he  is  a  beggar 
priest  with  a  little  gong 
which  he  continually  beats, 
and  a  big  receptacle  for  the 
offerings  of  the  faithful. 
Other  beggars  wear  a  pecu- 
liar kind  of  hat  like  an  in- 
verted bushel  basket,  which 
comes  down  over  the  head 
almost  to  the  shoulders. 

We  also  have  among  our 
auditors  several  bare-legged 
jinrikisha  men,  with  their  red 
blankets  wrapped  around 
their  shoulders,  giving  a 
touch  of  color  to  the  scene, 
and  leading  one  to  think  for  an  instant,  as  he  glances  out  upon 
the  crowd,  that  he  is  on  an  Indian  reservation  in  the  far 
West.  These  jinrikisha  men  deserve  a  whole  chapter  to 
themselves,  for  they  form  a  very  large  section  of  the  popu- 
lation, besides  furnishing  a  very  important  convenience  to 
the  traveling  public.  They  are  the  hack  men  and  motor- 
men,  the  horse-car  drivers,  and  horses  and  electric  motors 
combined,  of  the  far  East,  The  jinrikisha  was  invented 
twenty-five  years  ago,  by  a  Baptist  missionary,  though  the 
date  and  title  to  the  invention  is  disputed  by  some. 


A  JAPANESE  PEASANT. 


AN   EXAGGERATED   BABY   CARRIAGE.  227 

It  seems  strange  that  this  inventive  and  progressive 
people  did  not  find  such  an  important  and  convenient  means 
of  conveyance  long  before,  for  horses  are  almost  unknown  in 
Japan,  except  in  the  army,  mules  are  entirely  a  minus  quan- 
tity, and  cows  do  not  afford  a  very  swift  or  delightful 
means  of  travel.  Tlie  roads,  moreover,  are  excellent 
throughout  the  empire,  and  are  just  fitted  for  these  light 
and  tiny  one-man  vehicles.  Within  a  twelve-month  after  its 
introduction  the  jinrikisha  had  become  common  in  the  large 
cities  of  Japan,  and  within  two  years  its  use  became  uni- 
versal. After  getting  along  for  five  thousand  years  under  a 
single  dynasty  without  any  such  convenient  mode  of  loco- 
motion, the  nation  was  evidently  ripe  for  the  introduction 
•of  this  exaggerated  baby  carriage.  As  mushrooms  spring 
up  in  a  night  where  the  evening  before  there  was  no  sign  of 
a  growing  fungus,  so  the  jinrikisha  has  suddenly  appeared  in 
all  parts  of  Japan,  and  with  it  came  the  jinrikisha-man,  who 
is  now  an  institution  that  could  not  possibly  be  dispensed 
with. 

Just  as  there  are  cabs  and  cabs,  elegant  landaus,  and  rus- 
tic herdics,  brightly-polished  hansoms  and  disreputable  four 
•wheelers,  so  there  are  jinrikishas  and  jinrikishas.  Get  into 
one  of  the  better  class,  with  a  strong  man  to  pull  it  and  a 
good  road  to  travel  over,  and  one  is  as  comfortable  as  in  an 
easy  chair  wheeled  over  a  parlor  carpet.  But  get  a  rattlety- 
bang  aff'air  such  as  one  sometimes  finds,  with  a  low  back 
that  cuts  the  spine  in  two,  rattling  wheels  and  a  semi-defunct 
man  to  pull  it,  and  the  sensation  of  jinrikisha  riding  is  any- 
thing but  agreeable.  However,  most  of  these  men  are 
strong,  quick,  and  polite.  They  will  tuck  you  into  their 
little  vehicle  with  the  red  blanket  around  your  feet,  and 
start  off  as  merrily  as  if  going  to  their  own  wedding.  Espe- 
ciallv  when  several  are  hired  at  the  same  time  for  the  same 


228 


HILARIOUS   JINRIKISHA   MEN. 


journey,  they  seem  to  take  genuine  delight  in  their  work.  I 
have  seen  ten  of  these  men,  two  in  a  jinrikisha,  hired  by  a 
party  of  five,  when  roads  were  rough  and  time  limited, 
scamper  along  the  road  with  the  utmost  glee,  as  boys  just 
let  out  of  school  go  home  for  a  long  holiday.  They  would 
crack  jokes  one  to  another,  laugh  uproariously,  and  then 
subside  into  a  steady  jog  trot  and  monotonous  low  chant, 
which,  beginning  with  the  head  man,  would  be  passed  back 


A  JINKIKISHA. 


to  the  next,  by  hhn  to  the  next,  and  so  on  until  the  last  man 
in  the  procession  took  up  the  strain  and  passed  it  forward 
along  the  line. 

Their  endurance  is  perfectly  wonderful.  Many  a  time 
have  I  seen  them  trot  off,  a  good  hour  at  a  time,  up  hill  and 
down  dale,  pulling  their  heavy  loads  without  a  single  breath- 
ing spell,  while  at  the  end  of  the  journey  I  do  not  remember 
to  have  seen  one  exhausted  or  "  winded."  How  would  it  do 
for  our  college  athletes  to  take  lessons  in  training  from 
these  Japanese  jinrikisha  men  ?     A  missionary  friend  of  mine 


A  CONVENIENT  POSITION   FOR  THE   WAITRESS.  329 

tells  me  that  on  one  occasion,  when  pressed  for  time,  his  jin- 
rikisha-man  made  seventy-five  miles  in  one  day  over  a  road 
far  from  the  best,  and  was  by  no  means  utterly  exhausted  at 
the  end  of  the  day.  On  the  following  day  he  was  quite 
fresh  and  ready  for  another  long  pull.  This  journey,  though 
of  course  exceptional,  is  by  no  means  unexampled,  while 
forty  or  fifty  miles  is  not  an  unusual  day's  work,  and  may 
be  kept  up  many  days  in  succession  by  these  hardy  little 
runners. 

But  our  jinrikisha  men  have  quite  run  away  with  us  from 
that  dinner  we  were  describing.  By  this  time  we  must  be 
considered  to  have  finished  our  Japanese  meal,  drained  the 
last  cup  of  weak  tea,  and  ready  to  leave  mine  host.  While 
we  have  been  eating,  our  Japanese  waitress,  in  her  spotless 
white  stockings,  has  been  sitting  in  the  very  middle  of  the 
table,  or  rather,  of  the  dining-room  floor,  which  serves  as 
our  table,  so  that  she  may  conveniently  hand  us  any  edibles 
that  may  be  out  of  our  reach.  The  vision  suggested  to  my 
readers  by  this  description  of  a  great,  strapping,  awkward 
Irish  Biddy  planting  herself  in  the  middle  of  the  dining 
table,  and  passing  the  viands  to  the  different  guests,  is  su- 
premely ludicrous ;  but  not  in  the  least  incongruous  is  the 
picture  of  this  delicate  and  deft  Japanese  maiden  squatting 
on  her  white  soles  ^vithin  the  inmost  circle  of  guests,  that  she 
might  hand  the  desired  dishes  to  any  one  in  need. 

Now  we  will  pay  our  small  reckoning,  put  on  our  shoes 
again,  make  a  low  salaam  to  the  honorable  tavern  keeper 
and  his  wife  and  all  his  servants  and  waitresses,  and  find  our 
way  through  the  dense  crowd  of  cm'iosity-seekers  to  the  rail- 
way station. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


OUR  EXPERIENCE  AT  A  CEREMONIAL  TEA  — THE  THIRTY- 
THIRD  DEGREE  OF  EXQUISITE  POLITENESS  — JAPANESE 
SOCIAL  LIFE  — IN  THE  EMPEROR'S  PALACE. 

A  Ceremonial  Tea — "Past  Masters  "  of  Politeness  —  The  Emperor's  De- 
vice —  A  Dignified  Function  —  A  Contest  in  Politeness  —  White  and 
Black  Charcoal  —  With  Measured  Steps  and  Rhythmic  Motion  —  Build- 
lug  the  Fire  —  The  Most  Solemn  Moment  —  Our  Part  in  the  Ceremony 

—  No  Laughing  Matter  —  Smacking  Our  Lips  —  From  Tokio  to  Kioto 

—  The  Garden  of  the  World  —  Industrious  and  Careful  Farmers  — 
Woman's  Rights  in  Japan  —  One  of  Japan's  Honored  Names  —  Mis- 
sionary Life  in  the  East  —  Flippant  "Globe-trotters" — Cheating  the 
Gods  —  Stone  Children  with  Red  Bibs—  Confucius's  Chilly  Cult  —  The 
Temple  of  the  Three  Thousand  Gods  —  Big  Gods  and  Little  Gods  — 
Rope  Made  of  Human  Hair  —  How  Heavy  Timbers  were  Lifted  into 
Place  —  Curious  Sacrifice  of  Religious  Devotees  —  In  the  Emperor's 
Palace  —  Osaka,  its  Mint,  its  Castle,  and  its  Fish-Market. 


I 


EFORE  Ave  leave  the  fascinating 
empire  of  the  Mikado  we  must 
all  attend  "a  Ceremonial  Tea." 
It  is  not  the  good  fortune  of  every 
traveler  in  Japan  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  this  unique  national 
custom,  but  it  is  well  worth  the 
time  it  takes  to  see  the  acme  of 
etiquette,  the  thirty-third  degree 
of  exquisite  politeness,  formality, 
and  ceremony,  in  which  the  Jap- 
anese are  "  Past  Masters."  Pro- 
fessors of  the  art  of  ffivinf?  ceremonial  teas  still  exist  in 
Japan,  though  I  understand  the  professors  and  the  teas 
themselves  are  not  sucli  every -day  matters  as  they  used  to 

be,  for  most  Japanese  in  these  stirring  days  have  not  time 

( 230 ) 


ORIGIN   OF   THE   CEREMONIAL   TEA. 


231 


to  devote  the  liours  and  hours  necessary  to  imbibing  a  cup 
of  tea  in  the  most  approved  and  correct  manner. 

This  custom  is  said  to  have  been  introduced  by  Hideyoshi, 
the  great  conqueror  of  Corea,  who,  after  his  armies  had  re- 
turned triumphant,  felt  obliged  to  provide  some  occupation 
for  his  soldiers  which  should  take  their  time  and  remove 
their  thoughts  from  warlike  scenes.  So,  shrewd  man  that 
he  was,  he  centered  their  minds  upon  pouring  and  imbib- 
ing the  "  cup  that  cheers,"  feeling  sure  that  any  one  whose 


DIGNIFIED  DAMSELS  AT   TEA. 


attention  was  taken  up  for  five  hours  at  a  stretch  by  the 
delicate  and  intricate  ceremonies  centering  around  a  tea- 
pot would  have  no  room  for  bloodthirsty  thoughts  or  over- 
leaping ambitions. 

For  three  hundred  years  the  Ceremonial  Tea  has  been  an 
institution  of  Japanese  life,  and  ceremonial  tea-making  is 
taught  in  the  modern  schools  of  the  government,  as  it  is 
thought  to  give  dignity  and  grace  and  a  kind  of  solemn  les- 
son in  etiquette  to  all  who  stud}'  its  intricacies.  When  we 
asked  the  aged  professor  who  had  been  a  teacher  of  the  art 
all  her  life,  and  who  poured  for  us  the  ceremonial  cup,  how 


232  PKELOIINARY   COURTESIES. 

long  it  took  to  become  perfect  in  her  profession,  she  told  us 
that  a  bright  scholar  studying  one  hour  a  day  for  three 
years  continuously  might  become  fairly  proficient ;  but  she 
emphasized  the  word  "fairly"  to  show  that  only  a  very  com- 
parative degree  of  proficiency  was  attainable  by  any  such 
short  apprenticeship. 

But  now  for  the  tea.  There  were  five  of  us  favored  with 
the  ceremony  in  the  old  Daimio  city  of  Okyama.  After 
carefully  removing  our  shoes,  we  stepped  reverently  upon 
the  straw  matting  of  the  professor's  little  toy  house,  which, 
by  the  way,  was  a  perfect  specimen  of  the  average  Japanese 
abode.  I  said  stepped,  but  it  would  be  more  proper  to  say 
kneeled,  for  we  were  told  that  it  would  be  almost  profane 
to  come  into  the  room  in  our  usual  upright  position.  So  we 
left  our  shoes  on  the  ground  below  and  kneeled  up  into  the 
first  floor  sitting-room  of  our  hostess'  apartments.  Here  we 
saw  a  gray-haired  old  lady  awaiting  us  with  sweet  serenity 
and  great  dignity  of  mien.  She  also  was  upon  her  hands 
and  knees,  and  she  bowed  very  low  before  us,  while  her 
pathetic  gray  hairs  swept  the  matting  at  our  feet.  We  were 
not  to  be  outdone  in  politeness,  however,  so  putting  our 
hands  before  us  on  the  matting,  we  bowed  low  until  the  very 
crowns  of  our  heads  rested  on  the  soft  matting  of  the  floor. 
After  remaining  in  that  position  as  long  as  we  thought 
strict  etiquette  required,  we  rose  to  our  feet,  and  followed 
our  hostess  up  the  steep  and  narrow  stairs  to  the  room  above, 
the  room  sacred  to  the  ceremonial  tea. 

In  this  room  a  fire  was  glowing  in  the  kotatsu,  and  the 
steaming  earthen  jar  of  hot  water  looked  altogether  cheer- 
ful and  home-like  as  it  bubbled  and  simmered  above  the  coals. 

This  pre-arrangement,  however,  was  only  a  concession  to 
our  "Western  spirit  of  haste,  for  our  ceremonial  professor 
had  been  told  we  had  but  one  hour  at  our  disposal,  and  the 


STATELY   AND   DIGNIFIED   CEREMONIES.  233 

tea  must  be  made  and  served  in  that  short  space  of  time,  or 
not  at  all.  Otherwise,  she  would  have  kindled  the  fire 
before  us,  and  have  placed  every  drop  of  water  in  the  honor- 
able pot,  which  is  the  true  and  ancient  way  to  prepare  for  a 
ceremonial  tea. 

Motioning  us  to  take  our  seats  upon  the  mats  provided, 
she  set  about  her  task  in  the  most  serenely  grave  and  digni- 
fied fashion.  First  she  entered  the  screen  door  with  a  little 
bronze  dish  filled  with  charcoal,  some  sticks  being  painted 
white,  while  others  were  left  the  natural  color  of  the  coal. 
"When  she  reached  the  door  she  turned  around  and  very 
gravely  pulled  the  door  partly  to  with  one  hand,  transferred 
the  charcoal  dish  to  the  other  hand  and  pulled  the  door  a 
little  farther  with  the  hand  thus  left  free,  then  changed 
hands  once  more,  and  finallv  shut  the  door  with  the  hand 
first  in  use.  Then,  with  six  short  and  measured  steps,  only 
six  and  no  more,  she  made  her  way  to  the  fire-hole  in  the 
floor.  Then  turning  around,  with  solemn  precision,  she 
dropped  upon  her  white  stocking  soles,  and  with  the  utmost 
reverence  and  care  deposited  the  charcoal  in  front  of  her. 
Taking  from  a  large  basket  by  her  side  a  pair  of  curious, 
black  tongs,  slowly  and  with  the  gravest  dignity  she  placed 
two  black  and  two  white  pieces  of  charcoal  on  the  glowing 
coals.  Then,  though  there  was  not  a  particle  of  dust  to  be 
seen,  she  took  two  turkey  feathers  and  slowly  and  with 
rhythmic  motions  brushed  the  black  polished  edge  of  the 
kotatsu.  "With  a  specially  dedicated  spoon  she  then  took  the 
saucer  of  damp  ashes  and  sprinkled  them  all  about  the  glow- 
ing coals,  that  the  fire  might  not  spread.  As  I  write  this 
description  the  words  naturally  used  seem  to  imply  some- 
thing of  hurry  and  undignified  haste.  The  very  word 
"  sprinkle  "  from  its  sound  seems  to  imply  a  hasty  and  flip- 
pant action,  but  I  beg  my  readers  to  understand  it  was  any- 


23-i  A  SOLEMN   MOMENT. 

thino^  but  this.  Slo\v  and  moderate,  diofnified  and  rhythmic, 
was  every  motion  of  her  hand  and  spoon  and  tongs,  and  as 
the  damp  ashes  dropped  upon  the  hot  sand  they  seemed  to 
partake  of  the  spirit  of  the  occasion,  and  to  fall  in  a  very 
dignified  and  methodical  manner.  Then,  Avith  the  same  slow 
and  solemn  movement  she  rose  to  her  feet,  and  grasping  the 
chosen  vessel  with  the  utmost  tenderness,  taking  six  meas- 
ured steps  to  the  door,  no  more  and  no  less,  she  set  down  the 
bronze  dish  and  opening  the  door,  first  with  one  hand  and 
then  with  the  other,  and  then  with  the  fii'st  again,  and  bow- 
ing her  gray  hairs  to  the  floor,  she  glided  out  into  the  next 
room.    • 

In  rising  from  the  floor  she  must  get  upon  her  left  foot 
first,  and  it  would  be  an  unpardonable  breach  of  etiquette  to 
put  her  right  foot  forward  before  the  left  had  preceded  it. 

In  the  same  way,  with  slow  and  measured  half-dozen 
steps,  she  brought  in  two  cups,  and  then  a  slop-bowl,  and 
then  a  little  bamboo  dipper  with  Avhich  to  fill  her  hot  water 
pot,  and  last  of  all  the  sacred  lacquer  box  containing  the 
powdered  flowers  of  the  tea  plant.  This  was,  possibly,  the 
most  solemn  moment  of  the  whole  ceremony.  Even  with 
fifty  years'  experience  our  hostess  evidently  found  it  difficult 
to  live  up  to  her  lacquer  tea  box.  Taking  from  her  girdle  a 
red  silk  napkin,  she  smoothed  and  folded  it  with  extremest 
care,  tenderly  and  seriously,  and  then  dusted  the  top  of  the 
tea  box,  on  which  there  had  been  before  not  the  slightest 
suspicion  of  dust ;  then  unfolding  it  again  in  another  peculiar 
manner,  Avhich  took  months  of  constant  practice  to  learn  to 
perfection,  she  laid  the  cloth  aside. 

Following  this  came  another  serious  ceremon}".  Taking 
a  bamboo  dipper  carefully  in  both  hands,  she  placed  it  in 
just  the  right  position  on  the  teacup,  the  handle  resting  on 
the  floor.     Then,  with  her  other  hand  again  grasping  the 


NO   CAUSE  FOR   LEVITY.  235 

handle  of  the  dipper,  with  dignified  reverence  she  poured 
a  small  amount  of  water  into  the  teacup.  Into  this  half 
a  teaspoonful  of  the  powdered  tea  flower  was  put,  and 
stirred  in  with  a  long  bamboo  whisk  which  looked  not  unlike 
an  egg-beater. 

Then  with  slow  and  measured  tread  she  approached  the 
first  guest  in  the  row,  and,  sweeping  the  soft  matting  with 
her  white  hair,  she  placed  the  cup  before  the  honored  guest. 
Do  not  suppose  that  anything  was  done  except  with  the  ut- 
most precision  and  care.  It  is  impossible,  since  life  is  short, 
to  describe  the  preciseness,  suavity,  and  dignified  solemnity 
Avith  which  every  movement  was  performed.  Kot  a  smile 
passed  over  her  weather-beaten  features.  Every  act  was  no 
less  serious  than  a  religious  rite  to  her. 

However  much  cause  for  levity  her  guests  may  have 
found,  our  hostess  herself  was  evidently  performing  a  duty 
which  admitted  of  no  frivolity.  Worldly  chatter  seemed 
out  of  place.  Laughter  which  came  into  our  hearts  died 
away  before  it  rose  to  the  lips;  and  every  smile  was 
smoothed  out  before  the  dignified  procedure  of  our  cere- 
monious host. 

Then  came  our  part,  which  was,  alas !  performed  so  much 
more  awkwardly  than  hers.  A  native  Japanese  lady,  how- 
ever, was  present  to  coach  us,  and  under  her  direction  we 
first  touched  the  matting  with  our  foreheads ;  then  solemnly 
raising  the  cup,  touched  it  to  our  brows  first  and  next  to  our 
lips.  "VVe  were  told  it  was  good  form  to  drain  the  cup  in 
three  swallows,  drawing  in  the  breath  after  each  swallow 
and  smacking  the  lips  loudly  to  show  our  appreciation  of  the 
delicious  nectar.  After  the  last  swallow  a  peculiar  noise 
must  be  made  by  drawing  in  the  breath  with  the  pursed  up 
lips;  a  noise  for  which  I  have  often  heard  children  reproved 
by  their  elders  when  discovered  making  it  at  the  dinner 


236  THE  ORDEAL   OVER. 

table.  I  have  forgotten  to  say,  however,  that  before  raising 
the  cup  to  our  lips  it  was  necessary  to  put  it  in  the  palm  of 
the  left  hand,  while  the  right  lovingly  clasped  the  cup,  then 
it  must  be  turned  half  way  around,  after  which  it  might  be 
slowly  raised  to  the  lips. 

After  drinlving,  the  outside  of  the  cup  must  be  wiped 
with  the  thumb,  while  the  inside  of  the  cup  must  be  simi- 
larly wiped  with  the  forefinger.  Then  it  must  be  turned 
half  way  round  on  the  palm  once  more,  and  reverently  set 
down  on  the  matting. 

In  the  same  way  tea  was  prepared  for  each  one  of  the 
five  guests,  every  one  of  whom  must  go  through  exactly  the 
same  motions,  or  be  forever  disgraced  in  the  eyes  of  our 
hostess. 

Then  taking  up  the  dipper  and  ladle,  tea  caddy,  slop 
bowl  and  cups,  fire  tongs  and  bronze  charcoal  basket,  one  by 
one,  she  carried  them  into  the  next  room,  pacing  most  sol- 
emnly each  time  over  the  six  steps  between  the  fire  hole  and 
the  door;  opening  the  door  in  the  same  way  with  both 
hands,  and  then  coming  back  to  say  "Adieu"  to  her  guests. 

By  this  time  our  hostess  had  relaxed  a  little ;  a  weight 
was  evidently  off  her  mind ;  she  had  gone  through  a  severe 
ordeal  once  more  and  had  acquitted  herself  most  creditably. 
Her  teacups  had  no  reason  to  be  ashamed  of  her,  and  she 
even  smiled  a  dignified  smile,  and  condescended  to  chat 
most  graciously.  We  could  not,  however,  remain  for  any 
gossip,  but  pressing  our  crowns  to  the  matting  once  more, 
with  many  a  bow  and  genuflection,  we  backed  out  of  the 
presence  of  etiquette  personified,  put  on  our  shoes,  bobbed 
through  the  low  Japanese  door,  and  were  able  to  stand  erect 
and  take  a  good  informal  breath  of  fresh  air,  thanking  God 
that  no  such  thing  as  ceremonial  tea  existed  in  the  world 
of  nature  into  which  we  had  emei'ged. 


INDUSTRIOUS  AND  HAPPY  FARMERS. 


239 


The  journey  from  Tokio  to  Kioto,  from  the  modern 
secular  capital  to  the  ancient  sacred  capital  of  Japan,  was  a 
most  delightful  one.  Such  a  panorama  of  mountain  and 
valley,  seashore  and  bluff,  beautifully  cultivated  rice  fields 
and  garden  spots,  forests  of  bamboo,  orange  groves,  and  tea 
plantations,  mulberry  bushes  and  persimmon  orchards,  rice 
fields  and  vegetable  gardens,  would  be  hard  to  find  in  any 
other  section  of  the  globe.  England  and  France  with  their 
careful  culture  are  not  so  thoroughly  tilled  as  the  arable 


IN   A   BAMBOO   FOREST. 


portions  of  Japan,  and  even  little  Belgium,  with  its  teeming 
population,  does  not  seem  as  thoroughly  subdued  as  the  cul- 
tivated parts  of  the  Mikado's  empire.  On  these  little  islands, 
only  one-ninth  part  of  which  has  yet  been  brought  under 
cultivation,  verv  much  of  whose  area  is  bare  rock  and  moun- 
tain  crag  which  can  never  be  tilled,  thirty-seven  millions  of 
people  find  room  for  existence.  While  a  few  discontented 
peasants  in  Ireland  are  always  in  a  state  of  famine  and 
appealing  to  the  sympathy  of  the  civilized  world  with  their 
woes  and  lamentations,  ten  times  as  many  contented,  indus- 
trious, and  happy  farmers  and  trades-people  make  a  living  in 
Japan  and  never  send  to  America  doleful  tales  of  want  and 
woe. 


240 


JAPANESE  VILLAGES. 


By  a  very  careful  system  of  storage  of  water  and  irriga- 
tion most  of  the  cultivated  regions  of  Japan  are  beyond  the 
reach  of  drought,  and  where  the  American  farmer  would 
starve,  and  the  English  grumble,  and  the  Irish  get  up  a  riot, 
the  Japanese  farmer  will  live  in  comfort  and  plenty.  To 
be  sure,  his  wants  are  simple,  but  he  is  quite  able  to 
supply  those  Avants.  One  sees  few  gaunt,  hungry  beggars 
in  the  large  cities  of  Japan,  fewer  still  in  the  country  dis- 
tricts. Beggars  there  are,  to  be  sure,  but  most  of  them  are 
fat  and  rosy,  and  by  no  means  unhappy  looking  or  lone- 


jJIfflKl^llfjiniimn., 


some,  for  usually  they  resemble  the  famous  family  of 
martyrs  in  having  nine  small  children  and  one  at  the  breast. 

As  one  rides  along  the  railway  between  Tokio  and  Kiota 
he  passes  innumerable  small  villages,  all  built  on  the  same 
principle.  The  houses  with  thatched  or  tiled  roofs,  pictur- 
esquely turned  up  at  the  end,  oftentimes  a  large  Buddhist 
temple,  frequently  a  number  of  shrines,  and  a  street  of 
stores,  such  as  I  have  described  in  a  previous  chapter,  make 
up  the  A^illage. 

In  the  fields  we  see  women  working  side  by  side  with 
the  men,  and  often  on  the  streets  we  see  them  pulling  heavy 
loads  of  rice  or  vegetables.     But  after  all  their  lot  is  noi 


GROVES  AND   GARDENS.  241 

more  unenviable  than  that  of  peasant  women  on  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe,  and  I  am  told  that  these  field  Avomen, 
though  they  work  hard  and  apparently  toil  from  morning 
till  night,  have  far  more  freedom  and  influence  in  their  own 
homes  than  the  women  of  the  richer  classes,  and  their  lot  is 
quite  as  easy  to  be  borne. 

The  fields  are  small,  and  divided  from  one  another  by 
low  embankments  with  narrow  ditches  between,  but  all 
under  the  most  exquisite  culture,  with  furrows  straight  and 
even,  and  no  inch  of  soil  wasted.  The  liquid  manure  stored 
at  every  field's  corner  is  malodorous,  to  be  sure,  but  without 
it  the  Japanese  farmers  could  not  exist,  and  what  they  can 
endure  year  in  and  year  out,  surel}"  the  passing  traveler  can 
whiff  without  murmuring.  Under  almost  every  green  tree 
and  clump  of  bushes  stands  a  Buddhist  shrine,  while  the 
bamboo  groves  with  their  straight  and  slim  fish-pole-like 
stems  and  feathery  tops,  make  pleasant  and  picturesque 
additions  to  the  landscape. 

Soon  after  leaving  Yokohama  by  rail,  beautiful  "Fuji" 
towers  into  view,  quite  as  lovely  when  viewed  from  the 
shore  as  from  the  sea.  Symmetrical  and  lordly  beyond  all 
description,  it  must  be  seen  to  be  appreciated.  Neither 
glowing  V70rds,  nor  even  the  most  faithful  canvas  can  do 
justice  to  it.  For  many  miles  it  dominates  the  landscape, 
and  it  is  several  hours  after  it  first  comes  into  view  before 
we  get  the  last  glimpse  of  this  glorious  mountain. 

As  we  approached  Kioto  the  beautiful  gardens  of  azalias, 
japonicas,  and  chrysanthemums  for  which  it  is  noted,  be- 
came numerous,  and  though  at  the  time  of  our  visit  they 
were  not  in  their  glory,  we  could  get  some  conception  of 
what  they  must  be  when  every  spray  is  a  nodding  plume  of 
flowers. 

Kioto  is  noted  for  its  temples,  its  ancient  palace,  and  to 

15 


243 


KIOTO'S   MAGNIFICENT   UNIVERSITY. 


all  Christian  hearts,  for,. its  splendid  Christian  university,  the 
Doshisha.  If  this  were  the  only  monument  of  Christian 
missions  in  all  the  world,  it  would  be  a  satisfactory  proof 
that  they  are  not  a  failure.  Here  on  the  soil  of  Japan, 
reared  within  a  quarter  of  a  century,  we  find  a  university  of 
which  any  state  in  the  Union  might  be  justly  proud.  Here 
are  taught  not  only  the  classics  and  sciences,  but  philosophy 
of  the  most  pronounced  Christian  type,  theology,  and  medi- 
cine in   connection   with  a   splendidly   appointed   hospital. 

-MM 


IN   THE   LAND   OF   THE   JAPONICA. 


The  hundreds  of  young  men  who  assemble  at  morning 
prayers  would  do  credit  to  Dartmouth  or  Oberlin,  and  in  all 
respects  this  university  not  only  accomplishes  the  prime 
object  of  its  establishment,  the  formation  of  Christian  char- 
acter, but  is  fully  abreast  of  the  times,  and  is  second  in  popu- 
larity and  influence  among  the  Japanese  themselves  only  to 
the  Imperial  University  of  Tokio  itself. 

The  founding  of  this  school  is  due  verv  largelv  to  the 
talents  and  influence  of  Joseph  Xeesima,  whose  name  is  a 
household  word  among  Christian  people  on  l)oth  sides  of  the 
Pacific  ocean.     His  lamented   death   did   not   weaken   the 


THE   INFLUENCE   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONARY.      243 

prestige  or  power  of  the  university,  but  lie  finds  a  worthy 
successor  in  President  Kozaki,  the  former  pastor  of  a  lead- 
ing Congregational  church  in  Tokio.  Most  of  the  professors 
in  the  university  are  Japanese,  though  eminent  scholars 
from  among  the  missionaries  have  from  the  first  given  to 
the  school  the  best  features  of  an  Occidental  University. 

Any  candid  and  intelligent  traveler,  whether  a  profess- 
edly religious  man  or  not,  can  but  note  and  give  due  credit 
to  the  mighty  power  which  has  wrought  for  the  regenera- 
tion and  civilization  of  these  Eastern  nations.  To  hear  the 
flippant  commentaries  of  the  average  "globe-trotter,'"'  as  I 
have  before  remarked,  often  makes  one's  blood  boil  with  in- 

* 

chgnation.  A  man  who  goes  no  farther  than  Yokohama  or 
Kobe,  who  sees  the  missionaries  living  in  good  houses,  and 
having  servants  to  wait  on  them,  immediately  Avrites  home 
to  the  papers  that  the  missionaries  are  living  in  luxury  and 
doing  no  good,  and  that  their  influence  is  not  appreciably 
felt  in  the  empire.  Such  a  man  is  no  more  a  fit  judge  of 
that  concerning  which  he  writes  so  fluently  than  the  keeper 
of  a  Chinese  josshouse  in  San  Francisco  is  fitted  to  write  of 
the  influence  of  the  Sunday-School  movement,  or  a  citizen  of 
the  South  Sea  islands  of  the  spread  of  temperance  sentiment 
in  New  England. 

More  than  all  other  influences  together  has  the  Christian 
missionary  moulded  and  directed  the  new  civilization  of 
Japan.  Commercial  treaties  could  never  have  wrought  the 
change.  Open  ports  for  trade  in  rice,  tea,  and  lacquer  ware 
could  never  have  sent  the  new  blood  of  Western  civilization 
bounding  through  the  veins  of  old  Japan.  But  the  mission- 
ary and  the  Bible,  and  everything  for  which  the  missionary 
and'  the  Bible  stand,  have  in  less  than  a  generation  accom- 
plished what  centuries  of  mere  commercial  intercourse  with 
other  nations  could  never  have  brought  about. 


244  NOT   TRUTH,    BUT   SENSATIONALISM. 

I  have  met  missionaries  of  almost  every  denominational 
board  in  Japan,  and  in  not  a  single  instance  have  I  found 
them  other  than  devoted,  consecrated  men  and  women,  who 
have  dedicated  their  lives  completely  and  forever  to  the  lift- 
ing up  of  this  people  and  the  glory  of  God.  I  have  seen  in 
our  daily  papers  strictures  and  criticisms  upon  the  mission- 
aries which  a  single  half  day's  Investigation  would  prove 
false.  But  these  flippant  penny-a-liners,  who  write  their 
first  impressions  for  the  daily  papers,  never  stop  to  investi- 
gate. The  truth  is  not  what  they  are  after,  but  a  sensation, 
and  my  readers  may  set  down  any  such  ill-natured  remarks 
which  they  may  read  in  the  future  about  missionaries  and 
their  work,  as  the  result  of  ignorance  and  maliciousness. 

The  temples  of  Kioto  are  very  numerous  and  exceedingly 
beautiful.  Of  these  perhaps  the  Kyonizu  Sanjusangendo 
and  Hongwanji  temples  are  the  most  famous. 

The  Kyonizu  temple  is  built  on  enormous  piles,  and  on 
one  side  is  raised  scores  of  feet  from  the  ground.  It  is  ap- 
proached by  a  long  flight  of  stone  steps,  and  as  we  went  up 
the  steps  we  were  approached,  not  only  by  numerous  beg- 
gars, but  also  by  many  money  changers,  who  offered  to 
change  our  sens  into  rins.  As  a  sen  is  worth  less  than  a 
cent  and  a  rin  less  than  a  mill,  it  is  evident  that  the  ostenta- 
tious worshiper  Avho  wishes  to  make  his  charity  rattle  loudly 
in  the  temple  treasury,  can  get  a  great  deal  of  credit  for  lib- 
eral gift-giving  out  of  a  very  few  pennies.  There  are,  more- 
over, debased  iron  coins,  a  hundred  of  which  equal  one  sen, 
and  these  are  very  popular  at  the  entrance  of  some  temples. 
After  all,  this  is  the  same  principle  by  which  light  weight 
and  punched  and  clipped  silver  coins  find  their  way  into  con- 
tribution boxes  at  home,  and  I  have  sometimes  heard  it 
rumored  that  buttons  in  America  answer  the  same  purpose 
as  iron  rins  in  Japan  ;  they  make  as  much  noise  as  gold. 


A  FAMOUS   TEMPLE. 


245 


As  we  go  up  the  steps  of  the  Kyonizii  temple,  we  see  at 
reguhir  intervals  stone  lanterns,  into  which  candles  are 
thrust  to  light  the  pilgrim  on  his  toilsome  way,  and  every 
now  and  then  we  pass  a  medicine  god  whose  features  are 
worn  smooth  by  the  devout  worshipers,  who  have  rubbed 
their  hands  over  the  parts  of  the  idol's  body  in  which  the 
diseases  of  their  afflicted  friends  were  located,  in  order  that 
they  might  carry  the  healing  touch  home  with  them. 

Eye  diseases  and  rheumatism  seem  to  be  the  prevailing 


ENTRANCE  TO  NAGATA  TEMPLE,  KOBE. 


distempers  in  this  part  of  Japan,  for  the  eyes  of  some  of 
these  old  gods  are  completely  scratched  out,  and  their  knees 
and  thighs  worn  smooth  by  centuries  of  ceaseless  rubbing. 
Nothing  is  more  pathetic  among  all  the  superstitions  of 
heathendom  than  these  efforts  on  behalf  of  invalid  friends, 
so  impotent  and  yet  so  touching,  showing  that  whether  in 
Christian  light  or  heathen  darkness,  the  heart's  affection  is 
the  same  the  world  over. 

Another  most  pathetic  sight  in  the  Kyonizu  temple  is  the 
corner  devoted  to  images  of  children.     Hundreds  and  hun- 


246 


SUPERSTITION   RATHER   THAN   DEVOTION. 


drecls  of  these  liltle  stone  images  are  ranged  in  rows,  with 
little  red  bibs  about  their  necks,  votive  offerings,  we  are  told, 
to  the  god  of  the  temple,  in  behalf  of  children  sick  at  home. 
The  red  bibs  indicate,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  that  the  children 
recovered,  and  are  put  on  as  thank ,  offerings  over  the  little 
stone  image  when  the  child  gets  well. 

These  temples  and  this  idol  worship,  however  interesting 
to  the  casual  observer,  seem  to  take  very  little  hold  of  the 
national  life.     Little  true  devotion  is  apparent  in  China  or 


A  JAPANESE   IDOL   AND   TEMPLE. 


Japan,  the  prevalent  skepticism  having  in  many  places  taken 
the  place  of  the  old-time  reverence  for  Buddha  and  the  lesser 
duties. 

The  gods  seem  to  be  worshiped  more  often  as  a  matter  of  • 
gaiUj  as  a  superstitious  offering  to  good  luck  and  prosperity, 
and  even  w^hile  they  are  worshiped  they  are  laughed  at,  I 
am  told,  by  the  more  intelligent  Japanese,  just  as  the  super- 
stitious Christian  Avill  often  refuse  to  eat  with  twelve  others 
at  table,  will  fret  if  he  sees  the  moon  over  his  left  shoulder, 
or  breaks  a  looking-glass,  laughing  at  the  same  time  at  his 


A  TEMPLE  CROWDED  WITH   GODS.  247 

own  superstitious  fears.  Doubtless,  with  many  people,  the 
worship  of  these  heathen  deities  is  a  most  serious  and  heart- 
felt affair,  and  is  to  them  far  more  than  a  superstition  to  be 
sneered  at.  Japan  is  not  now  a  land  under  the  absolute 
dominion  of  either  Shintoism  or  Buddhism  ;  the  real  conflict 
of  Christianity  is  not  with  the  false  religions  of  the  East,  but 
the  skepticism  of  the  West,  not  with  Confucius  and  his 
"  chilly  cult,"  but  with  the  infidelity  of  Paine  and  Voltaire, 
Eosseau  and  Renan. 

The  Sanjusangendo  temple  is  interesting  chiefly  because 
of  the  great  number  of  deities  packed  away  beneath  its  roof. 
It  is  sometimes  called  the  temple  of  the  three  thousand  gods, 
at  other  times  of  the  thirt}' -three  thousand,  while  it  is  some- 
times even  known  as  the  abode  of  the  three  hundred  and 
thirty-three  thousand,  three  hundred  and  thkty-three,  all 
depending  upon  how  one  counts  the  gods. 

Inside  are  long,  long  rows  of  large  figures,  some  thousand 
in  all,  if  I  counted  correctly,  each  with  many  hands,  and  a 
multitude  of  smaller  gods  springing  from  the  heads  and 
fingers,  while  in  the  center  is  a  huge  Buddha  with  a  hundred 
hands  each  covered  with  a  multitude  of  smaller  deities. 
Counting  all  the  gods,  large  and  small,  there  are  certainly 
over  three  thousand,  and  as  certainly  less  than  three  hundred 
and  thirty-three  thousand,  but  what  the  exact  number  may 
be,  an  arithmetician  must  decide. 

Back  of  this  temple  is  an  interesting  spot  where,  in  the 
early  daj^s,  the  stalwart  youth  of  Japan  practiced  archery, 
the  great  feat  being  to  send  an  arrow  in  a  horizontal  line, 
without  too  much  elevation,  the  entire  length  of  the  temple. 
The  whole  temple  roof  and  the  space  under  the  eaves  were 
formerly  shot  thick  with  arrow  heads  which  had  strayed 
from  the  mark;  but  these  are  now  mostly  removed  by  relic 
hunters,  and  we  saw  but  few  still  sticking  in  the  roof. 


us 


SKILLFUL  WOOD   CARVERS. 


Perhaps  the  most  interesting  temple  in  Kioto,  all  things 
considered,  is  the  Hongwangi.  It  is  asserted  by  some 
recent  writers  that  no  new  Buddhist  temples  are  being  built, 
and  that  the  old  ones  are  tumbling  into  decay.  The  Hong- 
wangi temple,  however,  disputes  this  assertion,  for  it  is  still 
incomplete,  and  was  begun  only  a  few  years  since.  It  is 
erected  by  one  of  the  most  liberal  sects  of  the  Buddhists,  for 
the  Buddhists,  lilie  the  Christians,  are  divided  into  many 
sects  and  parties,  which  regard  each  other  with  far  more 


A  BUDDHIST  SHRINE. 


rancor  than  Christian  denominations  ever  felt  one  for 
another.  In  this  new  temple  are  some  of  the  finest  speci- 
mens of  Japanese  wood  carving  to  be  found  in  any  part  of 
the  Empire.  Birds  and  fish  and  flowers  and  foliage  of 
exquisite  workmanship  abound,  though  often  hidden  under 
the  eaves,  where  they  are  seen  with  the  utmost  difficulty. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  sights  about  this  temple  is 
the  great  coils  of  rope,  made  of  human  hair,  with  which  the 
heavy  beams  were  hoisted  into  their  places.  This  hair  was 
contributed  as  the    otfering  of    thousands   and   thousands 


ROPES   MADE   OF  HUMAN   HAIR. 


249 


of  devoted  women  and  girls,  and  after  being  nsed  to  hoist 
the  beams  and  rafters  into  their  places  is  preserved  in  these 
great  coils,  six  inches  through  and  thousands  of  feet  in 
length,  for  the  veneration  of  future  devotees.  The  most 
pathetic  of  these  coils  were  made  of  gray  hair,  evidently  the 
contribution  of  old  grandams  whose  faith  had  survived  the 
weary  years  that  had  whitened  their  locks. 


AN   INLAND  ^TXLAGE. 


The  pillars  of  this  temple  are  made  of  the  beautiful 
Keyaki  wood,  the  most  famous  building  material  in  all 
Japan.  These  pillars  are  immensely  tall  and  straight,  often 
three  or  four  feet  in  diameter,  and  beautifully  polished. 

There  is  an  interesting  history  connected  with  one  of  the 
most  elegant  of  these  pillars.  The  tree  grew  in  an  inland 
village  and  was  the  pride  and  delight  of  all  the  villagers. 
The  priests  wanted  it  for  the  new  temple,  but  could  not 


250 


A   SELF-SACRIFICING    DEVOTEE. 


obtain  it  for  love  or  money,  until  one  devoted  Buddhist,  for 
the  sake  of  rendering  it  worthless. where  it  stood,  hung  him- 
self from  its  branches,  thus  making  it  accursed  and  at  the 
disposal  of  whoever  desired  to  cut  it  down.  In  consequence 
of  the  self-sacrifice  of  that  devotee  the  Hongwangi  temple 
rejoices  to-day  in  its  most  beautiful  pillar. 

I  The     priests 

have   a   fashion 

of  saying  that 
these  pillars 
were  not  hauled 
to  the  temple, 
but  made  their 
own  way  thith- 
erward,  the 
facts  being  that 
the  people  of 
one  village,  in 
their  enthusias- 
tic fervor,  would 
haul  the  log  to 
the  nearest  vil- 
lage, they  to  the 
next,  and  so  on, 
until  at  last  it 
reached  Kioto, 
and  was  estab- 
lished in  its  place  among  the  stately  columns  of  the 
Hongwangi  temple. 

Another  of  the  lions  of  Kioto  is  the  royal  palace,  where, 
until  twenty-five  years  ago,  for  a  full  millennium  abode  His 
Imperial  Majesty,  the  Milvado  of  Japan.  ISTot  that  he  and 
his  ancestors  occupied  this  particular  palace,  for  the  build- 


A  WAYSIDE   SHKINE. 


AN  AMUSING  NOTICE. 


251 


ings  were  often  destroyed  by  earthquake  and  fire,  but 
were  as  often  rebuilt  in  the  same  fashion  as  of  old ;  and 
as  one  enters  he  can  see  to-day  how  the  Mikados  lived  a 
thousand  years  ago. 

After  haVing  received  a  special  permit,  we  awaited  in 
the  cold  vestibule  the  pleasure  of  our  guides,  who  are  never 
in  any  hurry  in  Japan  to  do  the  honors  of  their  show  places. 
While  waiting  we  had  ample  time  to  read  the  notice  which 
in  English  and  Japanese  confronts  every  visitor.     Here  it  is : 


VISITORS  WHO  HAVE  BEEN  AUTHORIZED  TO  VISIT  THE 
IMPERIAL  PALACE  MUST  BEFORE  ENTERING  PRESENT  AT  THE 
ENTRANCE  THEIR  VISITING  CARDS  AND  REQUEST  TO  BE  CON- 
DUCTED INTO  THE  PALACE.  ALSO  SIGN  THEIR  NAMES,-  GIVING 
FULL  INFORMATION  AS  TO  OFFICIAL  AND  DIGNITARY  TITLES. 
VISITORS  ARE  NOT  ALLOWED  TO  WEAR  BOOTS  OR  SHOES  IN 
THE  PALACE.  VISITORS  SHOULD  LEAVE  THEIR  OVERCOAT, 
MITTEN,  STICK,  WALKING  STICK,  CANE,  OR  WHATEVER  THEY 
TAKE  WITH  THEM  EITHER  TO  THE  ATTENDANT  OR  TO  THE 
SERVANT  OF  THE  PALACE    BEFORE  THEY  ENTER  THE  PALACE." 


N'ot  being  encumbered  with  any  "  mitten  "  we  only  took 
off  our  shoes,  deposited  them  at  the  door,  and  left  our  "  stick, 
"walking-stick,  and  cane,"  all  combined  in  one,  with  the 
attendant,  and  entered  within  the  royal  precincts. 

Though  one  would  not  wish  to  miss  the  sight,  I  must 
admit  there  was  exceedingly  little  to  see.  After  living  a 
thousand  years  in  such  a  draughty  suite  of  rooms,  I  do  not 
wonder  the  Mikados  were  readv  to  move  to  Tokio,  though  I 
do  not  know  that  their  present  abode  is  superior  to  the  old 
palace.  Cold  corridor  succeeded  cold  corridor,  and  room 
after  room,  each  as  bare  of  furniture  as  the  other;  no 
pictures  nor  bric-a-brac,  no  cozy  homelike  fireside,  no  shelf 
of  well-worn   books,  no  rocking-chair  for   the   old   grand- 


252  IN   A  JAPANESE   ROYAL   PALACE. 

mother,  or  high-chair  for  the  baby,  no  bed  or  lounge  or  rug 
or  hassock  to  give  them  a  habitable  look.  Every  room  and 
hall  and  corridor  is  covered  with  matting  of  exactly  the 
same  pattern,  in  strips  exactly  three  feet  wide  by  exactly  six 
feet  long,  and  bound  with  red  or  blue  braid.  To  be  sure, 
there  were  finely-painted  screens  in  almost  every  room, 
which  would  have  been  the  envy  of  all  connoisseurs  in 
Japanese  art.  In  one  room,  too,  was  the  throne,  which  was 
a  very  uncomfortable  but  highly  carved  and  gilded  piece  of 
the  modern  cabinet-maker's  art,  while  before  it  were  three 
low  stools  on  which  the  maces,  wands,  and  other  insignia  of 
office  were  laid. 

In  the  imperial  study  were  beautiful  screens  decorated 
on  all  sides  with  wild  geese  in  full  flight.  Whether  this 
Indicated  that  the  study  of  Confucius  which  formerly  occu- 
pied the  young  Mikados  in  this  room  was  a  "  wild  goose 
chase,"  or  not,  I  am  not  sure.  Yery  likely,  however,  the 
young  Mikados  of  old  were  of  the  same  opinion  as  Solomon 
and  the  modern  school  boy  that  "much  study  is  a  weariness 
unto  the  flesh."  Who  can  tell  how  many  successive  Mikados 
have  whiled  away  the  tedious  hours  by  watching  the  wild 
geese  flying  about  the  room  on  these  screens? 

The  Emperor's  bedroom,  like  all  the  other  rooms  except 
the  throne-room,  was  entirely  bare  and  empty  of  everything 
that  could  be  called  furniture.  In  one  corner  was  a  square, 
six  or  eight  feet  across,  made  of  cement,  on  which  dirt  was 
sprinkled  every  morning,  so  that  the  Emperor  might  wor- 
ship the  shades  of  his  ancestors  on  the  soil  (as  his  religion 
demanded),  without  leaving  his  own  bedroom.  Thus,  even 
before  the  days  of  cushioned  pews  and  high-priced  choirs, 
was  w^orship  made  as  easy  as  possible  for  those  who  can 
afford  it. 

In  the  great  open  square,  around  which  the  royal  rooms 


THE  LEGEND  OF  A  CHERRY  TREE. 


253 


are  built,  were  some  feeble  attempts  at  landscape  gardening. 
A  little  stream  and  rockery  and  a  few  clumps  of  bamboos 
are  maintained  there,  just  as  they  have  been  for  hundreds  of 
years.  Near  the  Emperor's  bedroom  was  a  cherry  tree,  the 
progenitors  of  which  were  planted  by  a  great  Mikado  hun- 
dreds of  years  affo,  and 


^C)^5 


when  that  rotted  away 
a  plum  tree  took  its 
place;  then  another 
cherry  tree  succeeded 
by  another  plum  tree; 
but  ahvays  in  that  par- 
ticular spot  there  has 
been  for  ten  hundred 
and  thirty-two  years  a 
fruit  tree  for  successive 
Mikados  to  gaze  upon. 
This  dynasty  of  the 
Japanese  Mikados  is 
the  oldest  ruling  house 
in  all  the  world.  For 
twenty-five  hundred 
years  the  same  family 
has  occupied  the 
throne.  Before  Eng-- 
land,  or  France,  or  Ger- 
many, or  Russia  Avere 
so  much  as  dreamed 
of,  Japan's  Emperor  held  royal  sway.  "When  the  Greeks 
were  at  the  height  of  their  power  the  present  reigning  fam- 
ily of  Japan  had  begun  to  bear  sway.  The  present  Mikado, 
if  I  am  not  mistaken,  is  the  one  hundred  and  twenty-fifth 
who  has  occupied  the  throne   in  direct  succession.      How 


A  JAPANESE   FARMER. 


254  TEMPTING   THE   TOURIST'S   PURSE. 

does  that  strike  you,  O  ye  aristocrats,  who  can  trace  your 
lineage  back  at  most  for  a  few  paltry  centuries,  or  perhaps 
for  only  a  few  scores  of  years?  Ye  are  par  venues,  indeed, 
beside  the  royal  family  of  Japan,  even  though  ye  came  over 
with  William  the  Conqueror  himself. 

Nagoya  is  a  seat  of  manufacture  of  much  of  the  finest 
ware  exported  from  Japan,  and  the  beautiful  conceits  and 
unexpected  forms  into  which  cups  and  teapots,  bowls  and 
plates  are  cast,  makes  them  the  despair  of  the  connoisseur  in 
china.  Each  new  article  seems  lovelier  than  the  last,  and 
tempts  the  lean  purse  to  open  once  more,  even  though  the 
vision  of  a  long  voyage  and  imperious  Custom  House 
officials  at  the  end  teach  caution  and  economy. 

The  ravages  of  the  great  earthquake  of  1891  are  now 
pretty  well  repaired,  but  cracks  and  huge  fissures  in  mud 
walls,  buildings,  and  even  in  the  ground  itself  rem  am  to 
show  the  havoc  wrought  by  the  wrestling  of  the  subter- 
ranean demons. 

The  most  beautiful  castle  in  existence  in  Japan  is  found 
in  Nagoya.  It  is  used  now  for  barracks  for  the  Imperial 
troops,  and  is  surmounted  by  two  huge  golden  dolphins 
whose  scales  are  made  of  large  Japanese  golden  coins.  The 
whole  value  of  the  dolphins  is  not  less  than  $180,000.  One 
of  them  was  once  on  exhibition  at  a  great  European  ex- 
position. It  w^as  wrecked  and  lost  on  the  way  home,  in  the 
Bay  of  Biscay,  and  great  was  the  rejoicing  on  the  part  of 
all  loyal  Japanese,  when  a  famous  diver  fished  it  from  its 
watery  bed  (for  which  the  dolphin  evidently  had  an  affinity), 
and  it  was  perched  once  more,  high  and  dry,  upon  the  pin- 
nacle of  the  Nagoya  castle. 

In  some  of  these  busy  towns  through  which  we  pass,  we 
are  very  likely  to  find  that  some  gala  day  is  being  cele- 
brated, and  that  half  the  mhabitants   are  gathered   in  the 


JAPANESE  JUGGLERS   AND   ACROBATS. 


255 


public  square  to  watch  the  jugglers  and  acrobats,  who,  on. 
high  ladders,  balanced  in  the  most  ticklish  fashion,  are 
dancing  and  turning  somersaults  and  standing  on  their 
heads  and  cavorting  around  generally,  yet  always  landing 
right  side  up  on  their  feet  when  the  show  is  over. 

Osaka  is  famous  for  its  castle,  too,  and  also  for  its  mint, 
an  institution  carried  on  upon  the  most  approved  modern 
plans,  and  which  turns  out  as  finely  finished  and  beautiful 
coins  as  are  made  by  any  country  in  the  world.  What  inter- 
ested me  most  in  Osaka  was,  perhaps,  the  fish  market.     This 


JAPANESE   ACROBATS. 


I  went  to  see  early  in  the  morning,  and  if  there  is  any 
variety  of  the  finny  tribe  which  was  not  on  sale  in  the 
Osaka  fish  market  that  morning,  I  should  like  to  see  it.  It 
is  said  that  two  hundred  species  of  edible  fish  are  found  off 
the  Japan  coast,  and  not  one  of  them,  I  am  convinced,  was 
missing  from  that  Eastern  Billingsgate.  Blue  fish  and  green 
fish,  red  fish  and  yellow  fish,  and  fish  combining  all  the 
colors  of  the  rainbow,  long  fish  and  short  fish,  fat  fish  and 
lean  fish,  thin  fish  and  stout  fish,  abounded  in  every  stall. 
Squids  and  cuttle  fish,  devil  fish  and  skates  were  found,  and 
every  variety  of  octopus,  especially  that  with  the  long,  jelly- 


25(5  IN   A   JAPANESE   FISH   MARKET. 

like,  cruel  tentacles,  which,  if  they  get  hold  of  a  man  under 
water,  would  evidently  hold  him  fast  until  the  life  blood  was 
sucked  drv. 

Besides  these  were  sculpins  and  spine  fish,  eels,  big  and 
little,  sea  snails  and  suckers,  and  all  kinds  of  heche  de  mer. 
Dolphins,  too,  seemed  to  play  a  prominent  part  in  this  fish 
market,  and  the  great  red  chunks  of  meat  cut  out  of  them 
and  exposed  for  sale  gave  the  stalls  the  appearance  of  a 
butcher's  shop  where  Texas  beef  was  the  staple  article.  It 
was  most  interesting  to  Avatch  the  way  in  which  the  fish 
were  auctioned  off.  The  auctioneer  will  present  a  tray  of 
cuttle  fish  or  squids,  for  instance,  praising  them  up  in  true 
auctioneer  style,  and  knock  it  off  to  the  highest  bidder  all  in 
a  quarter  of  a  minute,  for  he  has  a  hundred  trays  to  dispose 
of,  and  cannot  dwell  long  on  any  one  lot.  His  shrill  voice, 
added  to  the  shouts  of  the  fishermen  and  the  objurgations  of 
the  buyers,  always  inseparable,  as  it  would  seem,  from  Bil- 
lingsgate, whether  in  Japan  or  England,  made  a  pandemo- 
nium not  soon  to  be  forgotten. 

We  take  off  our  hats  and  make  our  best  salaams  to  the 
receding  shores  of  these  lovely  islands  which  we  have  so 
much  enjoyed  visiting.  We  can  only  pray  that  as  Japan 
grows  great  in  material  affairs,  as  it  surely  will  as  it  adopts 
the  civilization  of  Western  nations,  it  may  also  adopt  the  re- 
ligion and  the  Bible  which  alone  have  made  those  nations 
truly  great. 


CHAPTER  XIY. 


I 


OUR  RETURN  TO  CHINA— THE  SEAMY  SIDE  OF  CHINESE 
LIFE  — OPIUM  FIENDS  AND  FAN-TAN  GAMBLERS  — ODD 
WAYS   OF  AN   ODD   PEOPLE  —  DISPOSAL   OF    THE   DEAD. 

An  Obstructing  Bar  —  The  Will  of  Heaven  —  Almond  Eyes  and  Pigtails 

—  Noiseless  John — How  John  Chinaman  Treats  Americans  in  Shanghai 

—  Colossal  Conceit — The  Future  of  the  Celestial  Empire  —  Shoes  Two 
Cents  a  Pair  —  A  Chinese  Grocery  Store  —  Dried  Kidneys  and  Chickens' 
Livers  —  Varnished  Pig  —  Allowable  Theft  —  A  Chinese  Rice  Mill  — 
Arrested  Development  —  How  Chinese  Paper  is  Made  —  Rice  Paper  — 
How  it  is  Produced  — Woe-begone,  Emaciated  Faces  —  The  Seamy  Side 
of  Chinese  Life —  "  Hitting  the  Pipe  "  —  Opium  Fiends — Fan-tan  Gam- 
blers —  Intense  Excitement  —  Chinese  Music  —  Unearthly  Screeching  — 
Prolonged  and  Awful  Caterwauling  —  Human  Beasts  of  Burden  — 
China  and  Japan  Agriculturally  Considered  —  Rotation  of  Crops  — 
Novel  Ice  Harvesting  —  Fish  Farming  —  An  Odd  Way  of  Fishing  — 
A  Great  Funeral  —  Funeral  Baked  Meats  —  Baby  Towers  of  Shanghai. 

N   the    day   after   Christmas,  the 

steamer  Yokohama  Maru  which 

bore  us  from  the  beautiful  shores 

of    Japan,  steamed   up   to   her' 

dock  in  Shanghai,  and  we  found 

ourselves  once  more  in  China. 

Shanghai    is    probably    the 

greatest  commercial  port  of  the 

far  East.     Yessels  bearing  the 

flags  of  every  nation  discharge 

their  cargoes  at  her  warehouse 

doors.     At  least,  thev  do  this 

figuratively  speaking,  and  would  be  glad  to  do  it  literall}^, 

were  it  not  for  the  obstructing  bar  near  the  mouth  of  the 

Yang-tse-Kiang  river. 

This  bar  the  Chinese  government  allows  to  fill  up  with 
16  ( 257 ) 


258  VELVET-FOOTED   CHINAMEN. 

silt  from  the  upper  river,  and  never  makes  any  effort  to  re- 
move it,  or  to  form  a  new  channel,  as  might  easily  be  done. 

"  It  is  the  will  of  heaven,"  say  these  fatalistic  Celestials; 
"  we  will  not  interfere." 

I  strongly  suspect,  however,  that  it  is  the  will  of  the  high 
Chinese  authorities  as  well,  who  are  not  at  all  averse  to 
keeping  the  "  foreign  devils  "  out  of  their  territory  even  at 
the  expense  of  ruining  their  best  seaport. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  the  port  of  Shanghai  is  already  inac- 
cessible to  the  largest  vessels,  and  even  moderate-sized 
steamers  sometimes  must  wait  for  days  before  they  can  cross 
the  bar  at  TVoosung,  where  all  the  large  steamers  take  on 
and  discharge  their  cargo. 

Shanghai  consists  of  three  cities  united  by  contiguity 
and  commercial  interests ;  the  American  and  English  con- 
cessions which  are  under  one  municipal  government,  the 
French  concession  which  is  a  municipality  by  itself,  and  the 
native  city,  enclosed  by  a  high  wall,  into  whose  narrow 
streets  are  crowded  hundreds  of  thousands  of  human  beings. 

Do  not  suppose,  however,  that  English,  American,  and 
French  Shang-hai  are  larg-elv  inhabited  bv  Englishmen. 
Americans,  and  Frenchmen.  A  few  people  of  these  nation- 
alities there  are,  a  few  thousands  among  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands, but  to  search  for  a  foreigner  even  in  many  parts  of 
the  foreign  concessions,  is  lilvc  looking  for  the  traditional 
needle  in  the  hav-mow. 

Everywhere  are  almond  eyes  and  pig-tails  ;  long,  flapping 
blouses,  loose,  baggy  drawers,  and  thick  felt  slippers,  whose 
wearers  seem  to  steal  along  like  cats,  so  noiselessly  they  go. 
Especially  is  this  noticeable  to  those  who  come  from  Japan, 
where  the  noisy  wooden  shoes  clatter  over  the  hard  roads 
and  across  the  asphalt  platforms  lof  the  railway  stations  like 
ten  thousand  castanets,  each  playing  a  different  tune. 


AN  EYE   TO   BUSINESS.  259 

To  be  sure,  there  are  some  fine  foreign  business  blocks  in 
Shanghai,  and  two  or  three  conspicuous  churches ;  and  the 
bund  or  water  front,  with  its  beautiful  botanical  garden  and 
substantial  banks,  warehouses,  and  residences,  it  would  be 
difficult  to  surpass  in  any  city  ;  but,  after  all,  the  prevailing 
im})ression  of  Shanghai  is  of  a  huge  Chinatown  with  a  small 
admixture  of  San  Francisco.  In  fact,  the  tables  are  quite 
turned  on  the  metropolis  of  our  Pacific  coast.  Here  China 
very  evidently  bears  sway,  and  the  little  handful  of  Ameri- 
cans must  say  "  By  your  leave." 

However,  in  spite  of  the  general  shabby  treatment 
accorded  to  John  in  the  United  States,  there  seems  to  be  no 
antipathy  to  Americans  in  Shanghai.  The  average  John 
Chinaman  is  too  shrewd  to  cut  off  his  nose  to  spite  his  face, 
and  he  knows  that  the  presence  of  Englishmen,  Americans, 
and  Frenchmen  means  trade  and  commerce,  cash  for  his  till, 
jinrikisha  money,  and  small  change  generally,  which  other- 
wise he  must  go  without. 

Moreover,  so  far  as  Americans  go,  he  knows  that  while 
he  has  ample  reason  to  resent  their  presence  in  his  native 
land,  he  has  far  greater  cause  to  abominate  other  foreigners 
w^ho  have  ini])osed  still  heavier  burdens  upon  his  patient 
shoulders.  So,  instead  of  beginning  his  warfare  upon 
brother  Jonathan,  he  will  begin  with  Johnny  Bull  or 
Johnny  Crapaud,  as  undoubtedly  his  worst  enemies. 

Until  within  a  few  years,  Americans  have  stood  highest 
in  the  estimation  of  the  Chinamen.  Of  late  years,  not 
unnaturally,  their  stock  has  declined  in  the  Chinese  market, 
and  now  the  Germans  (perhaps  because  they  have  had  fewer 
opportunities  to  abuse  China)  are  the  favorite  people  through- 
out the  Celestial  Empire. 

What  the  future  of  China  will  be,  is  yet  an  unsolved 
mystery.     That  she  should  always  maintain  her  stolid  indif- 


260  UNRESPONSIVE   CHINA. 

ference  to  Western  civilization  seems  impossible.  In  spite  of 
her  impenetrable  husk  of  prejudice  and  self-satisfied  conceit, 
her  settled  conviction  that  her  ways  are  the  best  ways,  and 
that  no  untutored  barbarian  can  teach  her  anything,  it 
seems  to  me  that  the  rushing,  seething,  nineteenth  century 
life  which  is  continually  beating  against  her  shores  must 
eventually  make  an  impression.  Sooner  or  later  the  instincts 
that  are  being  awakened  in  the  breasts  of  all  the  rest  of 
mankind  for  a  larger,  freer,  better  life  will  find  a  response  in 
the  heart  of  Chinadom  as  well. 

But  I  am  convinced  that  there  is  only  one  touch  that  can 
awaken  the  unresponsive  heart  of  China,  and  that  is  the 
touch  of  Christ's  hand. 

Commerce  has  been  knockiug  at  her  doors  for  nearly  a 
thousand  years,  and  has  not  aroused  her  from  her  lethargy. 
Foreign  cannon  have  thundered  at  the  gates  of  all  her  chief 
cities  and  they  have  not  awakened  her.  Foreign  inventions 
and  labor  saving  contrivances ;  railways  and  steamboats, 
electric  lights  and  modern  conveniences,  have  been  presented 
to  her  in  vain  ;  and  all  have  failed  to  shame  her  out  of  her 
stolid  self-conceit.  She  has  gone  back  to  her  wheelbarrow 
and  her  sedan-chair,  her  paper  lantern  and  her  clumsy  junk, 
convinced  that  "  we  are  the  people  and  wisdom  will  die  with 
us,"  and  that  the  paltry  inventions  of  "  foreign  devils "  are 
not  worth  copying. 

What  chance  then  is  there  for  such  a  nation  except  that, 
which  lies  in  the  arousing  of  her  dormant  spiritual  energies  ? 
This  is  the  mission  of  the  missionaries  of  the  Cross.  Alreadv 
many  of  them  tell  me  that  they  see  indications  of  a  "  break"  in 
this  benumbing  national  self-suflBciency,  and  when  the  break 
does  come,  what  a  torrent  of  spiritual  activity  may  we  not 
hope  to  see.  To  be  sure  this  good  day  may  not  come  in 
this  generation  or  the  next,  but  some  day  I  believe  the  holes 


A   WALKING   SHOE   SHOP.  261 

already  made  in  the  dike  of  prejudice  will  Aviden  until  the 
whole  nation  is  flooded  with  the  life-giving  waters  of  the 
Gospel. 

Let  us  take  a  walk  this  brisk  December  morning  through 
the  crowded  streets  of  Shanghai.  Until  the  edge  of  novelty 
is  dulled  every  common  shop  is  filled  with  marvels.  He 
who  only  looks  for  the  treasures  of  the  Orient  in  the  ex- 
pensive curio  stores,  which  abound  at  the  seaports,  will  miss 
most  of  them.  To  be  sure  he  will  there  find  exquisite 
carved  ivory  and  lacquer  ware,  marvelously  beautiful 
bronzes,  figures  in  wood  that  are  almost  beyond  price,  and 
pieces  of  china  and  porcelain  of  fabulous  cost.  Kearly  all 
these  treasures,  or  their  duplicates,  he  could  find  in  almost 
any  large  American  city.  But  the  treasures  we  look  for  are 
found  in  every  common  shop  and  home  in  China,  and  really 
represent  Oriental  life  and  ways. 

Here,  for  instance,  comes  a  man  bending  under  the 
weight  of  two  hundred  pairs  of  shoes,  made  of  honest, 
undisguised  rice  straw ;  uppers,  soles,  shoe-strings  and  all,  of 
braided  rice  straw.  Wishing  to  take  home  a  pair  as  a 
souvenir  of  the  Shanghai  shoe  dealer,  we  inquire  the  price, 
and,  after  not  a  little  difficulty  w4th  his  language  and  he 
with  ours,  find  that  his  charge  is  thirty  "  cash,"  about  two 
American  cents  per  pair.  Thinking  this  is  not  extravagant 
we  purchase  a  pair,  but  find  out  afterwards  from  our  friends 
that  Ave  have  been  sadly  overreached,  and  that  liis  price  to  a 
Chinaman  Avould  not  have  been  over  fifteen  or  twenty  cash, 
or  a  trifle  over  one  cent  a  pair. 

But  here  is  a  store  from  which,  though  it  is  interesting, 
we  can  take  no  souvenirs  home,  for  it  is  a  provision  store, 
and  the  greasy,  unwholesome  looking  provender  exposed  for 
sale  would,  we  fear,  turn  the  stomachs  of  our  more  fastidious 
friends. 


2G2  DRIED   KIDNEYS   AND   VARNISHED   PIG. 

In  the  next  store  are  many  festoons  of  chickens'  livers, 
dried  and  strung  like  huge  ill-shaped  beads.  Other  strings 
of  dried  kidneys  hang  from  the  ceiling,  and  many  long 
rosaries  of  skinny  chickens'  legs  tied  together  and  hung  up 
in  loops,  like  great,  uncanny  necklaces,  dangle  from  the 
roof. 

In  these  provision  stores  are  also  seen  suspended  from 
the  roof,  as  our  grandmothers  suspended  dried  apples  and 
pumpkins,  strings  of  ducks,  split  open  and  pressed  flat  as 
pancakes  in  the  drying  process.  Here,  too,  are  greasy  look- 
ing sausages,  each  one  on  a  little  stick  of  its  own,  and  near 
the  doorway  is  usually  a  pig,  varnished  and  roasted  whole, 
untn  he  is  of  a  most  delicious-looking  brown. 

If  the  porker  tastes  as  he  looks,  I  do  not  wonder  that  he 
is  a  favorite  article  of  consumption  among  the  followers  of 
Confucius.  The  proprietor  of  the  provision  store  sits  in  front 
behind  a  little  railed-in  desk,  and  seems  in  no  hurry  for  cus- 
tomers. In  fact,  it  is  quite  your  own  matter  whether  you 
buy  or  not,  and  he  often  affects  supreme  indifference  as 
though  he  was  beyond  the  mercenary  considerations  of  trade. 
Before  him  is  an  abacus,  and  great  strings  of  copper  cash 
coiled  one  over  the  other, —  twenty  pounds  weight  or  more. 

But  do  not  think  that  this  indifferent  shopkeeper  is  not 
shrewd  at  a  bargain.  American  though  you  may  be,  with 
generations  of  bargaining  blood  in  your  veins,  he  is  a  match 
for  you.  Look  out  for  him  if  you  have  any  transactions  to 
make,  for  his  code  of  morals  does  not  demand  any  fine  de- 
gree of  scrupulosity.  He  will  not  cheat  you  very  much,  but 
a  little  sharp  practice  he  will  regard  quite  within  the  estab- 
lished limits  of  legitimate  trade.  In  fact,  petty  peculation  is 
such  a  recognized  custom,  that  if  a  servant  does  not  steal 
more  than  a  certain  per  cent,  of  his  master's  substance,  he 
is  never  even  threatened  with  the  law. 


A   NOVEL   PLEA. 


263 


I  was  told  that  a  certain  master,  new  to  the  country, 
having  detected  his  servant  in  a  small  dishonesty,  brought 
him  before  the  court.  "Whereupon  the  servant  admitted  his 
guilt  but  claimed  and  proved  that  his  peculations  had  not 
amounted  to  more  than  fifteen  per  cent,  of  his  wages.  Upon 
this  astounding  plea  of  coiiiparatwe  innocence,  the  judge 
fully  acquitted  him  without  even  a  reprimand. 


A  CHUsESE   RICE   MILL. 


As  we  continue  our  walk  through  Shanghai,  we  come  to 
a  miller's  establishment  next  door  to  our  provision  dealer. 
Here  are  a  dozen  men  working  in  a  treadmill,  which  raises, 
as  they  tread  their  monotonous  round,  a  row  of  huge  mal- 
lets. These  mallets,  poised  high  in  air,  descend  into  a  stone 
well,  partly  filled  with  unhusked  rice  or  paddy.  After  being 
pounded  by  these  mallets  for  a  sufficient  time,  the  grain  is 
separated  from  the  chaff  and  is  then  taken  out  and  winnowed 
by  hand.     There  are  other  kinds  of  rice  mills,  but  even  the 


264  HOW    PAPER   IS   MADE   IN  CHINA. 

commonest  processes  are  yet  very  primitive  in  this   great 
empire  of  the  East. 

All  China  seems  to  furnish  an  example  of  arrested  devel- 
opment. Before  any  other  nation,  doubtless,  China  used 
paper  and  gunpowder,  movable  types,  and  the  mariner's 
compass,  but  she  has  never  improved  upon  her  first  rough 
draughts.  As  she  made  these  articles  a  thousand  years  ago 
she  makes  them  now.  With  most  nations  a  new  invention 
of  any  kind  is  only  a  beginning  of  inventions.  A  great  dis- 
covery in  physics  or  chemistry  in  other  nations  only  sets 
men's  minds  on  the  alert  for  other  discoveries  and  improve- 
ments in  the  same  line.  Outside  of  China  no  invention  is 
complete  at  first.  The  perfect  machine  is  the  product  of 
many  minds  and  of  much  experimenting.  In  the  middle 
kingdom,  however,  a  machine  once  invented  is  invented  for 
all  time.  ISTo  improvements  appear,  no  rivals  set  their  wits 
at  work  to  find  a  better  and  cheaper  way  to  produce  the 
same  result.  When  once  a  method  is  pointed  out,  it  is  imi- 
tated by  unreasoning  generations  for  countless  future  years. 

For  instance,  a  well-informed  writer  who  spent  many 
years  in  China  in  the  consular  service  of  Great  Britain,  tells 
us  of  the  present-day  process  of  making  the  ordinary  Chi- 
nese paper.  "  There  is  an  entire  absence  of  machinery,"  he 
says,  "  for  washing  and  shredding  rags ;  there  are  no  troughs 
of  pulp,  chemicals  for  bleaching,  resin  for  watering,  wire 
molds  for  receiving,  and  drums  for  firming  the  paper  as  it 
comes  from  the  pulp  troughs.  Bamboo  stems  and  paddy 
straw  are  steeped  with  lime  in  deep  concrete  pits  in  the  open 
air,  and  allowed  to  soak  for  months.  When  nothing  but  the 
fibre  remains,  it  is  taken  out  and  rolled  with  a  heavy  stone 
roller  in  a  stone  well  until  all  the  lime  has  been  removed. 
A  small  quantity  of  the  fibre  is  placed  in  a  stone  trough  full 
of  water  and  the  whole  stirred  up.     A  close  bamboo  mold  is 


IN   A   CHINESE   PAPER   MILL. 


265 


then  passed  throup;li  the  mixed  fibre  and  water,  and  the  film 
which  adheres  to  it  emerges  as  a  sheet  of  paper  which  is 
stuck  up  to  dry  on  the  walls  of  a  room  kept  at  a  high  tem- 
perature. The  sheets  are  afterwards  collected  and  made  up 
into  bundles  for  market." 


A  CHrSESE  PAPER   MILL. 


Contrast  this  primitive  method  of  paper  making  with  the 
mills  of  New  England.  Yet,  in  the  idea  of  paper  making, 
China  had  the  start  of  us  b}''  a  round  dozen  of  centuries. 

The  most  beautiful  paper  which  I  saw  in  China  is  the  so- 
■called  rice  paper;  a  soft,  delicate,  velvety  substance,  which 
takes  colors  to  perfection,  and  which  is  very  much  in  demand 


266  A  CURIOUS   PROCESS.' 

for  tlic  bi'illiant  water-color  paintings  in  which  the  Chinese 
are  so  expert. 

I  often  wondered  how  this  paper  was  made,  so  different 
is  it  from  any  other  similar  product  I  have  ever  seen,  and 
have  only  just  learned  that  it  is  not  paper  at  all,  but  the 
pith  of  a  large-leaved,  bush-like  plant,  which  grows  luxu- 
riantly in  the  province  of  Kuei-chow.  My  informant  was 
invited  to  visit  a  w^orker  in  pith  after  night-fall.  Although 
some\Vhat  surprised  at  the  hour  named  he  accepted  the  in- 
vitation. On  his  ajrival  he  was  ushered  into  a  badly  lighted 
room  where  a  man  was  sitting  with  his  tools  before  him. 
These  consisted  of  a  smooth  stone  about  a  foot  square  and 
an  inch  and  a  half  thick,  and  a  large  knife  or  hatchet  with  a 
short  wooden  handle.  The  blade  was  about  a  foot  long, 
two  inches  broad  and  nearly  half  an  inch  thick  at  the  back. 
It  was  sharp  as  a  razor.  Placing  a  piece  of  round  pith  on 
the  stone  and  his  left  hand  on  the  top,  he  rolled  the  pith 
backwards  and  forwards  for  a  moment  until  he  got  it  into 
the  required  position.  Then,  seizing  the  knife  with  his  right 
hand,  he  held  the  edge  of  the  blade,  after  a  feint  or  two, 
close  to  the  pith,  which  he  kept  rolling  to  the  left  with  his 
left  hand  until  nothing  remained  to  roll;  for  the  pfth  had, 
by  the  application  of  the  knife,  been  j^ared  into  a  square, 
white  sheet  of  uniform  thickness. 

The  process  seemed  so  easy  that  the  visitor  determined 
to  try  it  himself,  and,  posing  as  a  professional  worker,  he 
succeeded  in  hacking  the  pith  and  in  nearly  maiming  him- 
self for  life.  He  was  convinced  that  a  keen  eye  and  a 
steady,  experienced  hand  were  needed  for  the  work.  For 
this  reason  these  sheets  of  pith  are  manufactured  only  at 
night  when  the  city  is  asleep  and  the  makers  are  not  liable 
to  be  disturbed. 

As  we  make  our  way  through  the  crowded  city  we  see 


IN  AN  OPIUM   DEN. 


267 


woe-begone,  emaciated  faces  which  indicate  more  surely 
than  the  red  nose  of  the  drunkard,  the  victim  of  the  opium 
habit.  One  who  has  lived  any  length  of  time  in  China  can 
tell  an  "opium  fiend"  at  a  glance,  and  even  to  the  stranger 
the  olfactory  organs  give  immediate  and  conclusive  proof  of 
one's  approach  to  an  opium  den.  In  fact  the  prevailing 
odor  of  China,  the  one  that  lingers  longest  in  the  tourist's 
memory,  is  the  sickening  stench  of  the  opium  pipe  that 
seems  to  be  wafted  along  every  street  and  alley  and  court. 
In  the  center  of  a  circle  of  depraved  Celestials,  swarthy, 


HITTING   THE  PIPE. 


half-naked  barbarians,  assembled  in  a  filthy  den,  is  a  dim  oil 
lamp,  with  a  smoky  chimney.  One  of  the  Chinamen  has  an 
opium  pipe  with  a  very  large  stem  (so  large  that  he  has  to 
distend  his  mouth  to  the  widest  capacity  to  take  it  in)  and  a 
very  small  aperture  in  the  bowl.  With  a  long  knitting 
needle  he  takes  from  a  little  jar  a  wad  of  sticky  opium 
about  the  size  of  a  pea.  This  he  melts  over  the  flame,  and 
then,  after  rolling  it  about  on  the  bowl  of  the  pipe  for 
several  minutes,  he  inserts  it  deftly  in  the  little  hole. 

Then  he  lies  down  at  full  length,  puts  the  orifice  contain- 
ing the  opium  over  the  flame,  and  for  two  blissful  moments 


2G8 


OPIUM   FIENDS   AND   FAN-TAN  GAMBLERS. 


draws  in  the  smoke,  s\vallowiii<i:  it  and  exlialintr  it  tlirous-li 
the  nose. 

Not  more  than  three  or  at  the  most  four  Avhiffs  of  smoke 
seem  to  be  contained  in  the  i:)ipe  without  reloading,  but 
when  these  whiffs  have  been  exhausted  the  almond  eyes 
close  with  a  sleepy  animal-like  content,  the  pipe  is  taken 
by  some  other  "  opium  fiend,"  and  the  same  slow  process  of 


IH-.W||.ii||. 

,,)i'i/'!yiii 

(I 


OPIUM    FIENDS. 


preparation,  followed  by  the  three  whiffs  of  Nirvana,  fol- 
lows, and  so  on  around  the  circle. 

Gambling  is  another  besetting  sin  of  John  Chinaman. 
It  is  a  weird  and  uncanny  sight  to  watch  a  group  of  fan-tan 
gamblers  in  their  dark  den.  Four  lanterns  containing 
smoky  candles,  and  placed  one  at  each  corner  of  a  strip  of 
matting,  serve  to  illuminate  the  scene.  Around  this  are 
huddled  a  motley  crowd  of  slant-eyed  Mongolians,  mostly 
possessing  only  one  garment,  either  a  loose  shirt  or  a  very 


HOW   FAN-TAN  IN   PLAYED.  269 

baggy  pair  of  trousers,  but  very  seldom  a  combination  of 
these  useful  habiliments.  Either  one  or  the  other  is  full 
dress  for  a  fan-tan  gambler. 

The  banker's  assistant,  or  whatever  he  may  be  called  (I 
must  confess  to  a  sad  lack  in  the  way  of  fan-tan  nomen- 
clature), takes  a  hea})ing  handful  of  Chinese  pennies  called 
cash  (little  brass  pieces  with  a  square  hole  in  the  center 
and  worth  about  a  tenth  of  a  cent  apiece),  puts  them  down 
in  the  center  of  the  square  of  matting,  and  places  on  top 
what  looks  like  a  big  brass  paper-weight. 

Then  with  a  sharp-pointed  stick  he  picks  the  pennies 
away  in  little  piles  of  four.  Until  he  takes  the  brass  \veight 
oif  of  the  central  pile  any  one  in  the  circle  is  at  liberty  to 
bet,  by  putting  his  on  the  center,  corner,  or  edge  of  a  square 
of  cloth.  If  there  proves  to  be  an  even  number  of  fours  in 
the  pile  of  pennies,  one  position  wins ;  if  one,  tAvo,  or  three 
more  than  an  even  number  of  fours,  some  other  position  on 
the  cloth  wins. 

After  the  weio^ht  is  removed  there  is  no  more  bettino-. 
Then  the  excitement  grows  intense.  Every  squatting  figure 
leans  forward  breathlessly  over  the  matting.  All  have  eyes 
only  for  the  counter,  who,  with  his  pointed  wand,  is  pulling 
away  the  little  quartettes  of  cash,  slowly  and  deliberately 
from  the  big  pile.  Gradually  the  pile  lessens;  tw^enty  only 
are  left,  a  dozen,  eight,  four,  none,  and  then  it  is  more  than 
likelv  the  banker  rakes  all  the  silver  and  e-old  of  the 
gamblers  into  his  capacious  till.  For  in  fan-tan  as  in 
gambling  of  a  higher  degree,  the  lambs  get  fleeced  very 
systematically,  and  are  only  allowed  to  win  often  enough 
to  whet  their  appetite  for  the  fatal  table. 

Victims  of  loathsome  skin  diseases  are  frequently  met 
with  in  our  walk,  and  even  those  who  are  suffering  from  a 
mild  kind  of  leprosy,  which,  however  is  not  considered  con- 


270 


SOME   CHINESE   PRESCRIPTIONS. 


tagious.  AVhere  there  is  disease  to  be  combatted  there  are,  of 
course,  doctors  to  ply  their  remedies ;  and,  very  likely,  we 
shall  meet  more  than  one  of  these  wise  looking  disciples  of 
Galen,  with  finger  nails  some  six  or  eight  inches  long  — 

most  inconvenient  digits,  one 
would  think,  with  which  to 
feel  the  pulse. 

If  we  fall  sick  in  China 
may'  we  be  spared  the  added 
torture  of  a  Chinese  doctor ! 
Sharks'  eyes,  powdered  chick- 
ens' livers,  and  the  last  hairs 
on  a  rat's  tail  are  some  of 
the  favorite  elements  in  theu' 
Tnateria  medica^  I  understand. 
An  unearthly  screeching 
and  unholy  sawing  away  u])on 
some  dreadful  stringed  instru- 
ment not  far  off  proclaims  that 
some  of  the  Celestials  are  mu- 
sically inclined;  and,  sure 
enough,  we  soon  stumble  upon 
a  group  surrounding  the  min- 
strel, who  is  playing  upon  an 
instrument  that  resembles  a  double-headed  hammer  with  two 
strings  stretched  from  the  head  to  the  handle. 

The  head  of  the  hammer  is  made  of  parchment,  and  from 
this  undeveloped  kind  of  a  fiddle  he  tortures  such  awful 
music  as  was  never  heard  on  sea  or  land.  If  the  instru- 
mental part  of  the  concert  is  hideous,  the  vocal  accompani- 
ment is  still  more  appalling.  It  cannot  be  represented  in 
English  characters,  but  a  faint  attempt  is  something  as 
follows :  "  Kyii,   kyi,  kyiii,  yi,  ya."     Imagine  all  the  tom- 


^«^ 


A   LEPER  GIRL   OF   SHANGHAI. 


STREET   SCENES   IN   SHANGHAI. 


271 


cats  you  ever  heard  pooling  their  issues  to  make  night 
hideous  from  a  neighbor's  roof,  and  you  will  have  some 
idea  of  the  prolonged  and  awful  caterwauling  which  John 
Chinaman  calls  "music." 

It  is  difficult  to  know  when  to  stop  in  our  walk  or  in  our 
description  of  it.     The  streets  go  on  for  miles  and  miles ;  one 


A   JUVENILE   CHINESE   ORCIIESTRA. 


street  succeeds  another  in  interminable  succession;  fish 
dealers  and  green  grocers ;  crockery  stores  and  wood  carv- 
ers ;  quilt  makers  (for  quilt  making  is  a  great  industry  in 
Shanghai) ;  undertakers,  with  piles  of  huge,  clumsy  coffins 
in  their  warehouse ;  these,  to  say  nothing  of  restaurants  and 
barber  shops,  and  other  trades  and  callings,  would  fill  this 
volume,  should  I  attempt  to  describe  a  Chinese  street  as  I 
have  seen  it. 


272  HUMAN   BEASTS   OF   BURDEN. 

As  we  are  oblie-ed  resolutely  to  turn  our  faces  homeward 
from  our  walk  in  the  streets  when  duty  calls  to  other  things, 
so  I  must  resolutely  turn  my  attention  and  yours,  dear 
reader,  to  other  things  than  these  very  commonplace,  but 
very  interesting,  streets  of  Shanghai. 

Let  us  visit  the  country  suburbs  of  this  great  city,  and 
see  what  odd  sights  are  visible  there.  The  first  cause  for 
wonderment  is,  perhaps,  the  immense  loads  which  the 
coolies  bear.  Scores  of  them  are  coming  to  market  this 
early  morning  with  a  long  pole  over  their  shoulders,  from 
each  end  of  which  is  suspended  a  great  basket  of  produce. 

It  is  surprising  what  tremendous  loads  these  human 
beasts  of  burden  can  stagger  under.  Many  a  time  have  I 
seen  a  coolie  with  a  basket  of  green  vegetables  holding  not 
less  than  three  bushels,  or  more  than  an  ordinary  flour 
barrel,  suspended  from  each  end  of  his  shoulder  pole. 
Sometimes  his  basket  contains  eggs,  which  are  scarcely  less 
heavy.  Let  my  readers  think  of  raising  two  barrels  of  eggs 
to  their  shoulders  and  trotting  off  with  them  at  a  lively 
pace  and  the}^  will  have  some  idea  of  the  burdens  imposed 
on  these  two-legged  horses. 

But  the  most  unpleasant  and  ubiquitous  of  all  are  the 
men  carrying  liquid  manure.  Whole  processions  of  these 
human  night-carts  do  we  meet  with  their  two  odoriferous 
buckets,  holding  nearly  a  barrel  each,  balanced  on  brawny 
shoulders.  We  need  not  complain,  however,  of  the  passing 
whiff,  if  the  coolies  can  spend  their  lives  amid  such  stenches, 
and  we  are  the  less  disposed  to  complain  when  we  remember 
that  it  is  owing  to  this  careful  fertilizing  and  minute  cultiva- 
tion of  the  soil  that  the  hundreds  of  millions  of  China  are 
kept  on  the  existence  side  of  the  starvation  point. 

At  this  time  of  year  (late  December)  everything  in  an 
agricultural  line  is  at  its  worst,  and  we  must  make  allow- 


CHINESE  FARMS   AND   FARMERS.  273 

ances  for  the  bleakness  of  the  season,  for  there  is  "  an  eager 
and  a  nipping  air  "  in  Shanghai  as  well  as  in  Vermont  and 
Michigan  at  this  time  of  year.  The  traveler,  coming  from 
Japan,  is  struck  by  the  fact  that  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  is 
much  less  careful  and  systematic  in  China  than  in  the 
Mikado's  empire.  In  Japan  every  square  inch  is  utilized, 
the  furrows  are  as  straight  as  mathematical  precision  can 
make  them ;  every  corner  and  edging  is  carefully  trimmed 
and  squared,  until  the  whole  country  looks  like  one  great, 
carefully-tended,  kitchen  garden. 

About  Shanghai,  however,  there  is  more  slovenliness 
visible,  less  care  in  little  things,  more  ragged  edges  and 
fewer  kitchen-garden  effects.  ISTevertheless,  the  average 
Chinaman,  in  spite  of  the  lack  of  picturesqueness  in  his 
fields,  is  a  famous  farmer,  and  if  Horace  Greeley's  dictum  is 
true,  and  if  that  man  deserves  well  of  the  world  who  makes 
two  blades  of  grass  grow  where  only  one  grew  before,  then. 
John  Chinaman  should  have  a  high  meed  of  praise. 

He  has  learned  to  perfection  the  system  of  rotation  of 
crops,  and  in  many  places,  as  I  have  before  remarked,  he 
would  be  ashamed  not  to  get  three  if  not  four  crops  out  of 
the  soil  every  twelve  months.  Moreover,  if  he  cannot  get 
one  crop  he  will  take  another ;  he  is  not  particular  so  long 
as  it  brings  rice  to  his  chop-sticks. 

Look  over  yonder  this  frosty  December  morning,  and 
you  will  see  twenty  men  wading  out  into  a  shallow  pond 
which  is  covered  with  ice  of  the  thickness  of  window  glass. 
They  seem  to  be  whipping  the  surface  of  the  pond  with  long- 
bamboo  poles  and  then  raking  something  toward  them  with 
long  bamboo  rakes.  For  a  time  these  strange  antics  puzzle 
us.  The  men  cannot  be  fishing,  neither  caa  they  be  thrash 
ing  the  surface  of  the  pond  for  fun.  Chinamen  do  not  take 
their  sport  in  any  such  athletic  way.     They  need  all  their 

17 


274  THRIFTY   JOHN. 

muscle  and  energy  lor  tlie  stern  realities  of  life,  and  have  no 
superfluous  vital  energies  to  expend  on  out-door  games. 

AViiat,  then,  can  they  be  doing?  A  nearer  inspection  re- 
solves the  mystery  and  shows  that  they  are  gathering  one  of 
their  yearly  crops  —  the  ice  harvest.  The  ice  dealers  of  the 
Kennebec  and  the  Penobscot  would  laugh  at  the  very  idea  of 
such  ice  gathering.  What !  they  would  say,  store  such  ten- 
uous coldness  as  that!  Harvest  ice  no  thicker. than  your 
finger  nail !  You  might  as  well  scrape  the  rime  off  of  the 
window  pane  for  next  summer's  consumption  or  brush  the 
hoar  frost  from  the  o-rass  for  use  next  Julv. 

But  John  Chinaman  knows  what  he  is  about,  and,  not 
deterred  by  any  contemptuous  remarks  which  his  visitors  may 
make,  he  goes  right  on  thrashing  the  thinly-coated  water 
with  his  long  bamboos,  raking  his  brittle  harvest  together, 
and  storing  it  in  great  straw-thatched  ice  houses.  Then  he 
salts  it  all  down,  literally,  not  figuratively,  and  thus  freezes 
it  anew  into  a  solid  compact  mass  ;  and,  though  his  ice  is  not 
good  for  drinking  ]3urposes,  he  has  a  product  that  answers 
very  well  for  refrigerating  uses,  and  which  lasts  far  into  the 
lono-  hot  months  of  the  comino-  summer. 

But  this  is  only  one  crop  that  the  thrifty  Celestial  ob- 
tains from  the  same  patch  of  soil,  for  before  he  flooded  it 
with  water  for  his  ice  crop,  he  had  taken  a  harvest  of  rice 
and  one  of  vegetables,  and  very  likelv  one  of  fish,  from  the 
same  two-acre  field. 

"  A  fish  crop  from  a  temporary  pond  which  only  covers 
the  soil  for  a  quarter  part  of  the  j^ear,"  you  say ;  "  why,  it 
is  impossible ! "  Xot  at  all,  my-reader,  and  this  is  the  way 
it  is  done.  The  ova  are  hatched  in  a  sluggish  stream  or 
ditch  near  by,  and  when  the  fish  have  attained  an  inch  or 
two  in  length,  the  field  is  flooded  and  the  small  fry  are 
turned  loose  into  it  to  feed  as  best  they  may  in  the  sub- 


CANNY   FISHERMEN.  275 

merged  rice  stubble.  The  fast-growing  fish  soon  attain  an 
eatable  size  (about  six  inches  in  length)  and  the  canny  China- 
man may  then  be  seen  Avading  into  the  water  which  conies 
half-way  to  his  knees,  armed  with  a  fish  pole  and  a  bottom- 
less bamboo  basket  with  a  hole  in  the  top. 

But  the  fish  pole  is  not  for  the  purpose  of  catching  fish, 
as  might  naturally  be  supposed,  at  least,  not  in  the  ordinary 
way,  nor  is  the  basket  to  hold  the  finny  captives,  since  it  is 
open  at  both  ends.  But  this  is  the  modus  operandi.  With 
his  pole  he  thrashes  the  water,  and  when  he  sees  a  sudden 
gleam  and  something  dart  into  the  black  mud,  he  quickly 
caps  the  spot  with  his  bottomless  basket,  and  putting  his 
hand  through  the  hole  in  the  top,  he  gropes  around  in  the 
mud  until  he  finds  the  imprisoned  fish.  This  he  transfers  to 
another  basket  which  is  slung  on  his  back,  and  then  goes  on 
thrashing  the  mud  and  water  until  he  sees  once  more  the 
silver  gleam  of  a  fish  dartmg  into  the  mud. 

It  will  be  strange  if,  on  this  walk  through  Shanghai's 
streets  and  suburbs,  we  do  not  see  at  least  one  of  the  sad 
processions  w^hich,  in  every  part  of  the  w^orld,  tell  the  old,  old 
story  of  mortality  and  decay.  I  saw  many  of  these  funeral 
corteges  in  China,  but  none  that  interested  me  more  than 
one  I  met  in  Shanghai. 

A  Avealthy  resident  had  lost  his  only  daughter,  and  he 
was  determined  to  show  her  ever}^  token  of  barbaric  honor. 
He  was  evidentlv  intent  on  havino^  what  our  Hibernian 
friends  w^ould  call  "  an  iligint  funeral."  Long  before  the 
mourners  came  out  of  the  house  were  the  preparations  begun, 
and  bearer  after  bearer  arrived,  each  bringing  some  contri- 
bution to  the  solemn  occasion.  First  came  two  coolies  carry- 
ing the  inevitable  roast  pig,  varnished  and  crisp  and  broAvn, 
his  ears  and  tail  decorated  A\ath  red  and  white  and  silver  em- 
blems.    Then  came  two  others  bearing  a  dressed  kid,  un- 


276  A   CHINESE  FUNERAL. 

cooked  and  standing  in  a  most  pathetic  attitude  with  his 
mouth  open  and  head  hanging  down  to  his  knees.  Following 
the  bearers  of  the  kid  were  others  carrying  little  platforms 
covered  with  rice,  vegetables,  and  sweetmeats,  while  on  the 
sweets  were  toy  butterflies  and  dragon  flies,  emblematic  of 
the  soul  which  had  taken  its  flight. 

Then  other  palanquins  came  upon  the  scene.  In  one  were 
two  huge  paper  images  which  were  to  be  burned  at  the 
grave,  and  through  whose  ascending  smoke  the  soul  might 
find  its  way  above  this  sordid,  cloudy  world.  Another  palan- 
quin contained  the  ancestral  tablets  ;  and  still  another,  a 
great  string  of  mock  money,  made  of  paper  in  the  form  of  gold 
and  silver  ingots  for  the  spirit's  use.  These,  I  was  told,  were 
to  be  burned  to  propitiate  the  gods,  and  that  the  deceased 
might  have  some  change  for  her  long  journey.  At  last,  after 
much  delay,  the  coffin,  preceded  by  six  Buddhist  priests  in 
flaming  yellow  robes,  was  brought  out  of  the  house  of  mourn- 
ing. It  was  quite  different  from  our  coffins  or  caskets,  and 
tapered  gradually  from  the  head  to  the  feet,  looking  not  un- 
like the  mummy  caskets  which  one  sees  in  the  British  museum. 
Over  the  coffin  a  brilliant  canopy  in  red  and  gold  cloth  was 
then  raised,  and  on  the  canopy  a  paper  stork  at  least  three 
feet  in  height,  Avas  fastened.  Usually,  a  paper  cock  has  this 
post  of  honor,  I  am  told,  but  on  this  occasion  it  was  an  unmis- 
takable life-size  stork.  Then  came  out  the  family  friends,  and 
a  truly  pitiable  sight  they  presented,  for  grief  is  the  same  in 
all  lands.  The  grotesqueness  of  the  surroundings  could  not 
altogether  disguise  the  sorrow,  though  of  course,  I  am  not 
prepared  to  say  that  the  excessive  weeping  and  wailing  and 
agonized  outcries  were  all  of  genuine  grief.  But  who  Avill 
dare  say  that  they  were  not ! 

The  father  of  the  damsel  came  first,  almost  bent  to  the 
ground  by  his  sorrow,  while  on  either  side  he  was  supported 


STRANGE    FUNERAL    CEREMONIES.  277 

by  a  mute,  who  was  arrayed,  like  the  father,  in  sackcloth 
and  white  linen.  Then  came  the  mother  likewise  supported, 
followed  by  the  brothers  all  bent  double  with  their  sorrow, 
groaning  and  weeping  and  wringing  their  hands.  Thus  the 
pitiful  procession  moved  along,  the  roast  pig  and  the  un- 
cooked kid,  the  vegetables  and  the  sweetmeats,  the  paper 
images  and  the  flesh-and-blood  mourners,  the  mock  money 
and  the  narrow  house  with  its  lonely  occupant,  surmounted 
by  the  many-colored  paper  stork ;  all  moved  slowly  on, 
followed  by  the  more  distant  mourners  in  jinrikishas. 

How  unspeakably  sad  is  such  a  sight !  Mortality  un- 
cheered  by  any  true  hope  of  immortality !  Death  irradiated 
by  no  reasonable  assurance  of  life!  The  grave  with  the 
stone  still  at  its  dismal  entrance,  not  yet  rolled  away. 

N^o  wonder,  O  father  and  mother,  that  ye  are  bowed 
down  with  grief  even  to  the  ground !  No  wonder  that  ye 
weep  and  wail  as  those  Avithout  hope  ! 

At  the  grave  the  paper  images  and  the  mock  money  are 
burned,  and  the  paper  stork  reduced  to  ashes.  Some  por- 
tions of  the  food  are  left  at  the  grave  for  the  dead  to  feed 
upon,  but  most  of  it  is  eaten  by  the  survivors,  who  remark 
as  they  masticate  the  generous  provisions,  "  How  strange  it 
is  that  this  pork  has  no  taste ! "  "  How  singular  that  the 
spirits  should  have  taken  all  the  goodness  out  of  these  vege- 
tables !  "  -'The  departed  have  evidently  been  helping  them- 
selves to  these  sweets,  for  there  is  no  taste  left  in  them." 

However,  in  spite  of  the  assumed  tastelessness  of  the 
funeral  baked  meats,  which  is  always  remarked  upon,  the 
mourners  manage  to  make  a  very  good  meal  upon  the  crisp 
roast  pork  and  toothsome  confections.  Oftentimes  the 
bodies  of  the  dead  are  kept  for  months,  hermetically  sealed, 
in  the  house  of  the  relatives,  and  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Shanghai  the  body  is  always  buried  only  where  the  priests 


278  THE   BABY   TOWERS   OF   SHANGHAI. 

indicate.  There  seem  to  be  no  cemeteries  set  apart  for  the 
dead,  but  the  whole  vicinity  of  Shanghai  is  one  vast  grave- 
yard. 

On  this  walk  into  the  country,  which  we  have  been 
taking  together  this  December  morning,  we  have  seen  scores 
and  hundreds  of  little  mounds  unmarked  except  by  a  slight 
swell  in  the  uneven  soil,  each  of  which  tells  where  many 
bodies  have  been  deposited.  Scores  of  coffins,  too,  are  seen, 
either  carelessly  set  down  by  the  roadside,  or  half  buried 
under  a  few  spadesfuU  of  soil  in  the  fields  near  by. 

But  the  most  pathetic  sight  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Shanghai  is  the  baby  towers,  into  which  are  unceremo- 
niously thrust  the  bodies  of  children  who  die  before  they 
have  attained  their  first  birthday.  According  to  the  Chinese 
idea  they  have  no  souls  before  they  cut  their  first  teeth.  It 
matters  little,  therefore,  what  becomes  of  these  tiny,  soul- 
less waifs,  and  so  they  are  thrown,  almost  before  the  life  is 
out  of  their  little  bodies,  into  these  dismal,  eyeless  towers, 
which  here  and  there  dot  the  horizon.  When  the  tower  is 
filled  to  the  roof,  the  little  bones  are  shoveled  out  as  uncere- 
moniously as  they  were  thrown  in,  and  another  lot  of  infant 
bodies  fill  the  horrid  cavity. 

What  else  could  be  expected  with  Chinese  views  of 
infant  life?  What  respect  is  due  a  soulless  infant?  How 
different  this  treatment  from  that  of  Him  who  took  little 
children  up  in  his  arms  and  blessed  them,  who  said :  "  Suffer 
the  little  children  to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not,  for 
of  such  is  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven." 


CHAPTER   XV. 

A  JOURKEY  THROUGH  TROPIC  SEAS. 

A  Delightful  Voyage  —  Liquid  Fire  — The  Sacred  White  Ox  — The  Gharri 
—  The  "  L  Road  "  aud  the  Bullock  Bandy  —  Fan  Palms  of  Singapore  — 
A  Tree  that  Casts  no  Shadow  —  How  the  Bandy  Driver  Stimulates  his 
Steeds  —  An  Effective  Threat  —  Chewing  a  Bullock's  Tail  to  make 
him  go  —  Picturesque  Wharf  Venders  — • "  Papa  Dive  " —  Scrambling  for 
Nickels  —  A  Walk  in  Penang  —  Mangosteens  and  Jack-fruit  —  Assa- 
foetida  and  Onions  —  The  Indian  Juggler  —  A  Man  with  a  Gizzard  — 
The  jVIaMgo  Tree  Trick  and  the  Girl  in  the  Basket  —  The  Last  of  the 
Chinaman  —  Ceylon's  Spicy  Breezes  —  The  Waggish  Captain's  Joke  — 
The  Odors  of  Colombo  —  A  Horrible  Combination  —  The  Catamaran  — 
The  Two  Instincts  of  the  Singhalese  —  Persistent  Shopkeepers  —  Be- 
sieged by  Beggars  —  Baby  Merchants  and  their  AVares  —  The  Cinna- 
mon Gardens  —  An  Ancient  Turtle  —  Brawny  Barbarism  and  Miss 
Nancyism. 


^HE  journey  from  Hong  Kong-  to 
Colombo  occupies  about  thirteen 
days  over  tropic  seas.  The  first 
few  da3^s  from  Hong  Kong,  with 
the  northwest  monsoon  blowing 
half  a  gale,  are  apt  to  be  rather 
uncomfortable  for  lovers  of 
terra  firm  a;  but,  as  we  travel 
southward,  the  weather  grows 
gentler,  the  sea  grows  smoother, 
and  before  we  reach  Singapore 
we  vote  this  journey  to  be  one  of 
the  most  delightful  on  any  ocean.  There  are  usually  few 
signs  of  life  at  sea,  but  on  this  voyage  flying  fish  flit  from 
wavelet  to  wavelet,  and  at  night  the  phophorescent  animal- 
cula  turn  all  the  surrounding  ocean  into  waves  of  liquid  fire 

(279) 


280 


THE   SACRED   WHITE   OX   OF   INDIA. 


as  our  good  ship  ])lo\vs  its  way  through  this  brilliant  but 
harmless  flame. 

Occasionally  a  passing  steamer  causes  all  the  passengers 
to  unstrap  their  field  glasses  and  level  them  at  the  distant 
stranger.  Occasionally,  also,  a  helpless  sailing  vessel  is  seen 
in  the  distance,  in  a  dead  calm,  with  fla])ping  sails  and 
drooping  pennant ;  its  crew  devoutly  wishing,  doubtless,  for 
the  aid  of  steam,  which  carries  us  so  swiftlv  aloner. 

Singapore,  in  the  Straits  Settlements,  is  the  first  stopping 
place  for  steamers  bound  for  India,  and  here  we  have  our 


SACRED   WHITE   OXEN. 


introduction  to  Indian  life.  Here  for  the  first  time  we  see 
the  typical  white  oxen  with  humps  on  their  backs,  just 
behind  their  necks,  and  with  gaily  painted  horns,  one  red 
and  one  blue;  a  sight  which  becomes  very  familiar  after  a 
few  daj's  in  India,  for  the  ox  is  not  only  sacred  in  this  land, 
but  is  also  the  indispensable  beast  of  burden.  Here,  too,  we 
are  first  introduced  to  the  universal  Indian  vehicle,  the 
gharri. 

Nothing  is  more  indicative  of  the  character  of  a  people 
than  the  vehicles  in  which  they  ride.  We  are  tempted  to 
perpetrate  a  second-hand  aphorism  to  the  effect  that  if  you 
will  show  us  the  carriages  in  which  a  people  ride  we  will  tell 


A   TREE   THAT    CASTS   NO    SHADOW.  281 

you  the  character  of  the  people  who  ride  in  them.  The  "  L 
road"  and  electric  street  car  are  as  typical  of  the  hurrying, 
impatient  American  character  as  the  ram-shackle  bullock 
bandy  is  of  the  careless,  easy,  happy-go-lucky  Hindu  of 
Southern  India. 

In  Japan  the  universal  jinrikisha  is  always  with  us  at 
every  railway  station  and  in  almost  every  country  village 
throughout  the  empire.  In  Hong  Kong  the  sedan  chair 
bears  the  traveler  aloft  above  the  heads  of  the  flocking 
throng.  In  Shanghai  the  wheelbarrow,  with  its  large  cen- 
tral wheel  and  its  seat  on  either  side  for  two  persons,  shows 
the  highest  aspiration  of  the  average  Chinaman,  so  far  as 
locomotion  goes.  But  in  Singapore  and  throughout  India, 
the  gharri  is  the  common  carriage  for  the  better  classes.  It 
is  not  a  bad  one  either,  for  a  hot  country,  with  its  double 
roof,  and  latticed,  movable  blinds  on  all  sides,  which  admit 
the  air  and  exclude  the  sun.  It  seems  to  be,  on  the  whole, 
the  best  public  carriage  that  can  be  devised. 

In  Singapore,  however,  jinrikishas  are  also  used  and  are 
most  gorgeously  painted  with  huge  gold  Chinese  figures  on 
their  broad  backs. 

The  most  interesting  drive  is  to  the  Botanical  Gardens, 
which  are  extensive  and  well  worth  visiting,  especially  for 
their  beautiful  fan  palms,  whose  leaves  radiate  from  a  com- 
mon center,  forming  a  huge  representation  of  our  common 
palm-leaf  fan,  with  a  great  trunk  for  the  handle  and  the 
branching  leaves  for  the  fan.  It  would  take  a  giant,  to 
be  sure,  to  wield  such  a  fan,  but  the  representation  is  com- 
plete on  a  colossal  scale. 

When  these  palms  are  planted  at  different  angles  they 
form  a  very  picturesque  addition  to  the  landscape  of  a 
garden.  Looked  at  edgewise  the  tree  is  almost  as  thin  as  a 
sheet  of  paper  and  can  hardly  cast  a  shadow  in  the  brightest 


282 


'V 


CHEWING  A  BULLOCK'S  TAIL 


sunlight,  but  looked  at  from  the  front  or  from  behind,  the 
huge  spreading  fan  presents  a  perfect  shield  to  all  within  its 
shade. 

Here,  in  Singapore,  too,  we  see  the  great  straw-thatched 
band}^  with  patient  bullocks  hitched  to  it;  and  in  this 
bandy,  when  gharris  were  not  to  be  had,  we  have  been  more 
than  once  glad  to  ride,  shielded  as  we  were  from  the  hot 
Indian   sun,  and  getting  over  the  road,  not  at   lightning 


t^,l^%%^^^^\)^  ¥*| 


THE   BULLOCK   CART. 


speed,  but  at  the  rate  of  three  or  four  miles  an  hour,  which 
is  very  good  trotting  for  these  little  animals. 

The  bandy  driver  usually  stimulates  the  speed  of  his 
bullocks  not  only  by  judicious  application  of  a  short  stick, 
but  more  often  by  twisting  their  tails,  in  a  way  that  seemed 
to  us  most  cruel  and  inhuman ;  while  one  driver,  who  could 
not  get  sufBcient  speed  out  of  his  bovine  steeds,  in  his  de- 
spair actually  grasped  the  tail  of  one  of  them  in  his  teeth 
and  began  to  chew  it  vigorously  as  "a  discourager  of  hes- 
itancy" on  the  road.  We  were  oblio-ed  more  than  once 
to  threaten  our  bandy-drivers  and  "gharriwallahs"  with  the 
Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals,  unless 
they  desisted  from  their  practices. 


AT-  THE    WHARF   AT   SINGAPORE.  283 

Whether  our  threats  were  understood  or  not,  or  whether 
"the  society  with  the  long  name"  is  known  in  Singapore  I 
am  not  sure,  but  in  every  case  our  vigorous  protest  seemed 
to  have  its  desired  effect,  and  the  poor  animals  trotted  along 
without  so  much  applied  stimulus  from  the  outside. 

But  more  interesting  to  us  than  the  busv  streets  of  Singa- 
pore  with  their  squalid  inhabitants,  or  even  beautiful  botan- 
ical gardens,  were  the  crowds  of  young  adventurers  that 
swarmed  to  the  wharf  with  various  wares  and  temptations 
for  our  pocketbooks. 

Here  were  boats  loaded  with  most  curious  and  beautiful 
shells,  lovely  nautilus  shells,  huge,  flat,  pearly  mussel  shells 
(so  thin  it  seemed  impossible  for  any  living  animal  to  find  a 
home  between  the  two  discs),  crinkly,  curly,  spiral  shells  of 
every  hue  and  possible  curve.  From  other  boats  great 
branches  of  coral,  red,  white,  and  pink,  tempted  the  pur- 
chaser. Still  other  men,  with  gaudy  turbans  and  brilliant 
cloths  round  their  waists,  offered  for  sale  parrots  of  even 
more  gaudy  plumage  than  themselves ;  while  others  came 
down  to  the  wharf  with  great  baskets  of  delicious  pine- 
apples, for  the  straits  are  the  very  home  of  the  "  pine,"  and 
nowhere  else  is  it  found  of  finer  flavor  or  of  larger  size. 

In  the  water  about  the  steamer  were  scores  of  naked 
boys  ready  to  dive  for  a  piece  of  money  which  the  amused 
traveler  might  throw  them.  Every  grown-up  stranger  to 
them  is  either  ''  papa  "  or  "  mamma,"  according  to  the  sex  of 
the  person  addressed  ;  while  all  European  boys  are  yclept 
"  Charlie  "  by  them,  however  they  were  christened  by  their 
parents.  So,  as  we  three  pilgrims  looked  over  the  side  of 
the  vessel,  scores  of  vigorous  voices  would  cry  out,  "  Papa 
dive,"  "Papa  dive,"  "Mamma  dive,"  "Mamma  dive," 
"  Charlie  dive,"  "  Charlie  dive."  This  did  not  mean  that 
the  pilgrims  should  take  headers  into  the  water,  as  the  im- 


284  A  SCRAMBLE   UNDER    WATER. 

perative  mood  seemed  to  indicate,  biit  that  these  brown- 
skinned  natives  in  the  boats  would  exhibit  their  powers  if 
only  the  inducement  of  a  five-cent  bit  was  thrown  into  the 
water.  As  at  Honolulu  and  other  places  where  we  have 
watched  the  performance,  when  the  little  silver  piece  began 
to  flutter  down  beneath  the  waves,  what  a  commotion  there 
was  among  the  twenty  boats!  Twice  twenty  supple,  clean- 
limbed little  fellows  would  jump  into  the  water,  their  wrig- 
gling toes  and  the  white  soles  of  their  feet  would  appear  for 
a  moment  above  the  waves,  while  underneath  the  disturbed 
waters  would  prove  that  they  were  grabbing  and-scrarabling 
after  the  silver  bit.  Soon  one  brown  hand  would  appear 
above  the  surface  followed  by  another  and  another,  until 
gradually  the  whole  upper  surface  was  brown  with  hands 
and  heads,  and,  puffing  and  blowing,  the  whole  little  regiment 
of  divers  would  come  bobbing  to  the  top ;  the  strongest  and 
most  expert  usually  having  the  silver  piece  safely  tucked 
away  in  his  cheek. 

In  the  meantime,  their  little  dug-out  canoes  would,  very 
likely,  float  off  to  quite  a  distance,  some  of  them  would  fill 
with  water,  others  would  disappear  in  different  directions ; 
but  they  would  soon  collect  their  property,  get  into  their 
several  canoes,  bale  them  out  with  a  quick,  dexterous  motion 
of  the  foot,  which  shoveled  out  sufficient  water  to  keep 
them  from  sinking,  and  then  their  occupants  were  ready  for 
another  dive,  if  "  Papa,"  or  "  Mamma,"  or  "  Charlie  "  would 
only  favor  them  with  a  five-cent  piece. 

Two  days  after  leaving  Singapore  we  reached  Penang, 
and  as  we  looked  out  of  our  cabin  porthole  early  in  the 
morning,  we  found  our  steamer  at  anchor  and  surrounded  by 
gaily  painted  sampans  ;  red  and  white  and  blue  of  the  most 
vivid  hues  were  the  prevailing  colors. 

"Mahommed  Baboo"  had  his  name  painted  in  flaring 


A  MOST   HORRIBLE   COMBINATION.  285 

letters  on  one  of  these  brilliant  boats,  and  for  the  sake  of  his 
name,  perhaps,  more  than  for  any  other  reason  (it  sounded 
so  distinctly  Oriental),  we  chose  his  sampan  and  were  rowed 
ashore  for  the  modest  sum  of  five  cents  each. 

Penang  is  an  uninteresting  place,  and  its  few  sights 
scarcely  pay  for  the  necessary  walk  in  the  hot  sun.  Such 
gorgeous  costumes  as  one  here  sees,  such  Oriental  disregard 
of  any  costume  at  all,  w^ould  be  startling  in  any  otlier  port 
of  the  world,  though  here  these  scanty  garments  seem  by 
no  means  so  inappropriate  as  in  cooler  latitudes. 

The  fruit  stores  are  filled  with  strange  products  w^hich 
look  very  odd  to  our  unaccustomed  eyes.  We  indulged  in 
some  of  them,  and  found,  that  while  a  few  were  delicious,, 
others  required  a  long  course  of  education  in  order  to  appre- 
ciate them.  The  mangosteen,  for  instance,  a  fruit  about  the 
size  of  an  apple,  with  a  dull,  reddish  color,  is  most  spicy  and 
fragrant  and  refreshing.  One  never  is  obliged  to  learn  to 
like  the  mangosteen. 

The  jack  fruit,  on  the  other  hand,  which  our  loquacious 
guide  persuaded  us  to  buy,  asserting  that  it  was  most  deli- 
cious, proved  tp  be  a  most  horrible  combination  of  bad  onions 
and  assafoetida.  After  hanging  a  specimen  of  this  fruit  up 
in  our  stateroom  for  an  hour  of  two,  the  cabin  became 
utterly  uninhabitable  for  several  hours,  until  it  had  been 
fumigated  and  opened  in  all  directions  to  the  breezes  of 
heaven.  We  are  told  by  old  inhabitants  of  the  country, 
however,  that  our  guide  was  not  far  wrong,  that  the  jack- 
fruit  is  really  by  no  means  so  bad  as  its  odor  indicates. 
However,  we  were  satisfied  with  what  one  of  our  senses  told 
us  concerning  it,  and  we  did  not  attempt  to  find  out  whether 
it  tasted  as  badly  as  it  smelled. 

Here  in  Penang,  too,  we  saw  our  first  Indian  juggler. 
He  came  aboard  the  ship  while  she  was  lying  at  anchor,  and 


286  THE  UNCANNY  INDIAN  JUGGLER. 

performed  all  his  stock  of  tricks,  which  are  decidedly  inter- 
esting when  first  viewed,  bnt  which  1)ecame  somewhat  stale 
when,  one  after  another,  a  dozen  jugglers  did  exactly  the 
same  tricks  ifi  the  same  way  ;  each  one  talking  cheap-jack 
patter  to  attract  or  distract  the  attention  of  the  spectators. 

In  spite,  however,  of  the  sameness  of  his  tricks,  the 
Indian  juggler  is  a  very  clever  fellow.  He  will  cause  a  little 
pebble  to  make  its  way  under  a  brass  cup,  without  hands, 
when  he  is  ai)parently  six  feet  away,  and  when  the  spectator 
is  willing  to  take  his  oath  that  the  cup  is  absolutely  empty. 
He  will  pick  another  pebble  out  of  your  shoe  or  a  large  stone 
out  of  your  pocket,  though  you  are  very  confident  you  are 
not  carrying  a  small  cpiarry  about  your  person.  He  will 
show  you  an  innocent  little  ball  of  javn  in  his  hands,  as  big 
as  a  large  bullet,  and  after  speaking  to  the  ball  for  a  moment, 
it  will  be  transformed  into  a  little  paroquet,  which  opens  its 
bill  and  squeaks  and  makes  a  "  salaam  "  at  the  command  of 
its  master. 

He  will  put  an  egg  shell  in  a  little  cloth  bag,  slap  the  bag 
around  in  the  most  vicious  manner  on  the  deck,  against  his 
own  shins,  or  on  a  projecting  spar,  will  then  take  the  bag 
in  both  hands  and  wring  it  so  vigorously  that  you  are  sure 
that  not  even  a  fly  could  live  within  its  folds ;  then  coolly 
opening  the  mouth  of  tlie  bag,  the  egg  shell,  unharmed 
and  sound,  will  roll  out  upon  the  deck  at  your  feet. 

He  will  open  his  mouth  and  take  out  one  pebble  after 
another,  until  vou  are  convinced  that  he  has  a  gizzard  like  a 
turkey's,  and  that  he  keeps  a  store  of  stones  for  digestive 
purposes  in  his  gullet,  for  they  all  seem  to  come  up  from  the 
depths  of  his  throat.  One,  two,  three,  four,  up  to  nine  of 
these  pebbles  he  will  disgorge,  and  then,  with  a  convulsive 
effort  by  which  he  seems  to  be  throwing  up  his  Adam's 
apple  itself,  will  come,  one  after  the  other,  four  large  stones 


FOLLOWERS    OF   THE    "BLACK   ART." 


287 


as  big  as  hens'  eggs,  which  he  will  add  to  the  pile  of  the 
smaller  stones  at  his  feet. 

Before  your  very  eyes  he  will  plant  a  dry,  withered 
mango-stone.  After  pronouncing  a  few  conjurer's  incanta- 
tions over  this  stone,  and  passing  a  handkerchief  over  it,  you 
find,  to  your  surprise,  that  it  has  sprouted  into' a  little  mango 
tree  with  four  tiny  leaves.  Another  incantation  and  the 
tree   has  o'rown  into   a  sizeable   bush   with   three   or  four 


1 1 


,Sm^ 


THE  FAMOUS  BASKET   TRICK. 


branches ;  still  another  spell  is  pronounced  and  the  bush  has 
become  a  tree,  from  which  he  will  pluck  and  hand  you  a  ripe 
and  luscious  mango,  even  if  it  be  not  in  the  mango  season. 

The  "basket  trick"  is  also  a  favorite  with  these  followers 
of  the  "  black  art."  A  young  girl,  often  a  very  pretty  girl, 
is  tied  together  with  long,  stout  ropes,  w^hich  seem  to  be 
knotted  most  securely.  The  girl  is  then  crowded  into  a 
wicker  basket,  larger  at  the  bottom  but  growing  smaller 
towards  the  top,  where  the  hole  is  just  large  enough  to 


288  THE  FAMOUS    BASKET   TRICK. 

admit  lier  body.  .  Then  the  coniurer  takes  an  ug-ly-lookincr 
sword,  which  is,  however,  probably  far  more  harmless  than 
it  appears,  and  deliberately  jabs  right  and  left,  up  and  down, 
baclvAvards  and  forwards,  into  the  basket.  Through  the  center 
and  out  at  every  side  the  sword  is  seen  to  stick,  while  one  is 
willing  to  aver,  by  all  that  is  true,  that  it  is  impossiljle  for 
the  sword  to  escape  the  body  of  the  imprisoned  girl.  Most 
recklessly  the  juggler  lunges  at  the  basket.  For  the  sake 
of  heightening  the  effect,  the  girl  emits  timid  little  squeals 
once  in  a  while,  and  sometimes  red  fluid,  that  looks  like 
blood,  pours  from  the  side  of  the  basket.  But,  a  few  mo- 
ments after,  the  girl,  who  has  apparently  been  stabbed  in  a 
hundred  places,  steps  forth  from  her  prison-house  smiling, 
unbound,  and  unharmed. 

Five  days  from  Penang  brings  us  to  Colombo,  where  we 
have  our  first  glimpse  of  genuine  Indian  life.  Hitherto,  the 
ubiquitous  Chinaman  has  been  before  us  everywhere.  He 
has  monopolized  the  markets,  crowded  out  the  natives, 
trundled  the  jinrildsha,  and  cheated  us  w^ith  bare-faced  impu- 
dence. But  before  getting  to  Colombo  he  seems  to  stop 
short,  and  there  we  see  only  the  natives  of  the  soil.  To  be 
sure  there  are  many  people  from  the  mainland  of  India,  who 
have  come  to  the  more  fertile  island  of  Ceylon  to  find  work 
when  their  crops  have  failed.  But  the  Singhalese  and  the 
natives  of  Southern  India  speak  the  same  language,  and 
resemble  one  another  very  much  in  customs  and  costumes. 

The  glorious  missionary  hymn,  which  every  young  Chris- 
tian learns  as  soon  as  he  knows  the  Lord's  Prayer,  has 
thrown  a  peculiar  halo  of  romance  around  this  beautiful 
island  of  the  coral  seas,  and  more  romantic  day  dreams  have 
centred  here  than  upon  any  other  spot  on  the  face  of  the 
earth.  One  is  quite  prepared  to  detect  the  "  spicy  breezes  " 
long  before  he  sights  the  palm-girt  shores  of  Ceylon. 


CEYLON  S   FRAGRANT   ISLE.  289 

A  waggish  captain  of  -whom  we  have  heard,  taking 
advantage  of  this  universal  expectation  born  of  tlie  okl 
hymn,  while  the  passengers  were  at  "tiffin,"  smeared  the 
rail  of  the  upper  deck  with  oil  of  cloves  and  cinnamon.  Just 
as  the  vessel  neared  the  land,  the  passengers  came  up  from 
their  lunch  one  after  another ;  the  spicy  odors  were  strong 
and  pungent,  and  were  cited  by  the  captain  as  proof  positive 
that  the  breeze  was  blowing  "soft  o'er  Ceylon's  isle."  It 
was  not  till  he  reached  Calcutta  that  he  explained  the  little 
joke,  and  dispelled  the  romantic  notions  of  fair  Ceylon. 

One  is  sure  to  believe,  when  he  first  lands  at  Colombo, 
that  the  breezes  are  anything  but  spicy,  for  all  sorts  of 
odors  which  make  up  the  usual  smells  of  a  large  seaport  city 
greet  one  as  he  steps  ashore.  Moreover,  if  one  penetrates 
far  into  the  native  town,  he  will  be  still  more  convinced  that 
there  are  other  odors  besides  those  of  clove  and  cinnamon 
which  are  wafted  abroad  in  Ceylon. 

As  every  place  has  its  characteristic  vehicle,  so  every  sea- 
port has  its  characteristic  native  boat.  The  slipper  boat  of 
Canton  gives  way  in  Kobe  to  the  larger  and  clumsier  lighter 
of  Japan.  This  in  turn  is  displaced  by  the  gorgeously 
painted  sampan  of  Penang,  while  in  Colombo  none  of  these 
styles  of  boat  building  are  seen,  but  a  curious  double-keeled 
catamaran,  with  large  out-riders,  and  so  narrow  that  a 
passenger  can  barely  squeeze  his  two  legs  between  the  sides 
of  the  very  rakish-looking  little  craft.  However,  the  cata- 
maran is  by  no  means  so  insecure  as  it  appears,  but,  owing 
to  the  large  out-rider,  it  is  able  to  brave  almost  any  sea 
in  safety. 

The  harbor  of  Colombo,  though  protected  by  a  long  and 
expensive  breakwater,  is  not,  by  any  means,  a  quiet  haven, 
and  such  boats  as  these  are  the  only  ones,  besides  the  steam 
tugs,  that  will  lie  in  the  turbulent  surf  that  sometimes  breaks 

18 


290  THE   SWARMING   STREETS. 

on  the  shore.  We  were  seized  upon  as  we  stood  upon  the 
deck  of  the  Malwa  by  half  a  score  of  importunate  boatmen, 
and  were  ahnost  pulled  limb  from  limb  in  their  anxiety  to 
secure  us  for  their  little  craft.  At  last,  asserting:  our  right 
to  ownership  in  our  beleaguered  persons,  we  transferred  our- 
selves and  our  baggage  to  the  least  importunate  of  our 
boatmen  and  were  rowed  safely  to  the  pier. 

Here,  again,  the  struggle  to  possess  us  and  our  baggage 
was  renewed.  Bandymen  and  coolies,  hotel  runners  and 
guides,  besiege  us  from  every  quarter,  jabbering  and  pulling 
and  jostling  and  pushing,  with  all  the  importunate  imperti- 
nence of  cab  drivers  at  l^iagara  in  the  olden  time.  Ag-ain 
we  are  compelled  to  assert  our  claim  to  our  oAvn  personality, 
and,  after  seeing  our  baggage  duly  installed  in  a  bullock 
bandv,  we  walk  on  behind  after  the  custom  of  travelers  in 
Colombo,  until  we  reached  our  roomy  and  comfortable  hotel. 

Even  the  walk  to  the  hotel  reveals  a  conglomerate 
picturesqueness  in  the  swarming  streets,  which  promises  well 
for  the  interest  of  our  stay  in  Colombo.  Here  are  white- 
turbaned  Hindus,  with  long  white  cloths  over  their  shoulders 
and  round  their  loins;  Brahmins  with  little  spots  of  sacred 
j^ellow  ashes  on  their  foreheads ;  Sivites  with  three  vertical 
lines,  two  white  and  one  red,  to  indicate  that  they  are  wor- 
shipers of  Siva,  the  cruel  goddess ;  and  many  other  Hindus 
A^'ith  different  lines  and  spots  of  sacred  ashes  to  show  the 
particular  brand  of  their  heathenism.  Here,  too,  Mahom- 
medans  in  red  fezzes  and  Parsees  in  high  glazed  hats  mingle 
with  the  throng,  and  here  and  there  a  European,  shaded  by 
an  immense  pith  helmet,  which  often  comes  down  over  his 
features  like  a  mushroom  over  a  diminutive  toad.  Naked 
children,  many  of  them  with  beautiful  black  eyes  and  be- 
witching curly  hair,  swarm  everywhere.  Before  they  are 
able  to  speak  they  learn  to  hold  out  their  little  hands  in 


BESIEGED  BY  BEGGARS.  291 

beggary,  for  two  instincts  seem  to  have  been  fully  developed 
among  the  inhabitants  of  Colombo  —  the  commercial  in- 
stinct and  the  faculty  for  begging.  Beggars  swarm  ever}^- 
where,  with  all  sorts  of  claims  on  human  sympathy,  revolt- 
ing and  disgusting  enough  oftentimes,  thrusting  their  de- 
formities and  loathsome  diseases  into  vour  verv  face  and 
ejes  in  order  that  they  might  excite  your  pity. 

Of  all  traders  that  I  have  ever  seen,  the  Colombo  shop- 
keeper is  most  persistent,  vivacious,  and  vigorous.  Certain 
lines  of  business  seem  to  be  overstocked  in  this  little  city, 
especially  the  trade  in  precious  stones, — moonstones,  sap- 
phires, and  rubies.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  every  second  man 
whom  we  meet  on  the  street  has  his  pocket  full  of  precious 
stones,  either  real  or  hnitation,  most  likely  the  latter,  which 
he  is  bound  you  should  buy,  if  his  eloquent  persistency  can 
induce  you  to  part  with  your  rupees.  From  every  shop 
door  and  window  comes  the  beseeching  invitation,  "Lady 
buy" ;  "Master  come  in" ;  "  Master  look,  just  look,  need  not 
buy";  "Do  come,  master";  " Mamma,  please  look  here." 
Every  few  steps  a  proprietor  of  a  jewelry  bazaar  will  rush 
out  at  you  with  a  handful  of  moonstones  and  sapphires, 
which  he  will  insist  on  your  taking.  If  you  assert  you  have 
no  money  to  spare,  he  will  tell  you  that  he  will  trust  you, 
and  that  you  can  take  the  jewels  home  with  you  to  America, 
and  send  him  the  money  when  you  are  convinced  of  their 
value.  Such  confiding  trust  in  human  nature  I  have  not 
seen  elsewhere,  and  when  I  asked  for  the  reason  of  this  con- 
fidence in  a  passing  traveler,  I  was  assured  that  the  dealers 
could  well  afford  to  take  the  risk  involved  in  the  offer,  and 
that,  though  they  occasionally  lost  their  jewels,  they  made  up 
for  it  amply  by  the  enormous  price  which  they  obtained 
from  other  people  for  comparatively  worthless  stones. 

Even,  the  children  scarcely  out  of  babyhood  acquire  the 


292  A   MANIA   FOR   TRADING. 

mania  for  trading,  and  they  will  run  by  the  side  of  your 
gharri  by  the  half  hour  with  bouquets  of  bright-colored 
fioweue  and  canes  and  every  imaginable  trinket,  with  which 
they  think  they  can  beguile  the  unwary  traveler.  If  you 
refuse  to  buy  they  will  throw  the  bouquet  into  the  carriage 
at  you,  crying  out  in  their  childish  treble :  "  Take  it,  master, 
it's  yours";  "It's  a  gift,  mamma."  If,  however,  you  take 
them  at  their  word  and  actually  accept  the  bouquet  as  a 
gift,  they  will  follow  you  weeping  and  wailing  and  beseech- 
ing you  to  pay  them  for  it,  and  make  your  life  miserable 
until  you  either  throw  back  the  worthless  little  bunch  of 
flowers  or  give  them  a  half  anna  as  its  price. 

The  Cinnamon  Gardens  just  outside  the  busy  streets  of 
Colombo  are  by  no  means  as  impressive  and  as  beautiful  as 
their  romantic  name  indicates  to  foreign  ears,  for  the  cinna- 
mon bush  is  rather  a  scraggy  shrub,  without  any  special 
characteristics  in  outward  appearance  to  distinguish  it  from 
a  hundred  other  bushes  in  the  jungle.  As  one  crushes  the 
leaves  in  his  hands,  however,  or  scrapes  the  tender  bark 
from  the  branch,  the  delicious  odor  of  the  cassia  plant  is  per- 
ceived, and  one  is  tempted  to  buy  all  the  gnarled  and  ugly 
sticks  which  are  for  sale,  for  the  sake  of  the  spicy  fragrance. 

Here,  too,  every  tropical  fruit  grows  with  the  utmost 
luxuriance.  Unlike  Southern  India,  Ceylon  is  frequently 
visited  by  refreshing  showers  which  wash  Nature's  face  and 
keep  it  always  smiling.  Long  rows  of  cocoanut,  bread-fruit, 
and  jack-fruit  trees  line  the  country  roads,  and  some  mag- 
nificent views  tempt  one  to  linger  beneath  their  shade. 

A  few  miles  from  Colombo  is  a  fine  estate,  noted  among 
other  things  for  its  ancient  turtle,  which  is  known  to  be  at 
least  400  years  old ;  since  it  has  been  upon  the  title  deeds  of 
that  property  for  that  length  of  time.  It  lies  in  a  little 
pool  of  fresh  water  in  a  valley  near  the  seashore,  and  never 


AN  ANCIENT   AND   HONORABLE   TURTLE.  293 

attempts  to  wander  away  to  greener  fields  and  pastures 
new.  In  the  hot  weather,  however,  the  pool  dries  up,  and 
then  his  turtleship  every  morning  marches  majestically  up 
to  the  bungalow  to  have  cold  water  thrown  over  his  j^arched 
and  dusty  carapace.  "When  he  has  been  sufficiently  re- 
freshed with  many  buckets  of  water  he  goes  back  to  his 
valley  again,  until  he  is  ready  for  another  refreshing 
shower  bath. 

As  in  other  Eastern  countries,  everything  here  is  done  out 
of  doors.  In  Colombo  the  fruit  stores  and  shoe  shops,  the 
barber,  cabinet  makers,  and  jewelry  dealers  all  do  their 
trading  and  bargaining  and  mechanical  work  with  as  few 
partitions  between  them  and  the  general  public  as  possible. 

Everywhere  we  meet  semi-naked  coolies  carrying  huge 
baskets  of  vegetables  and  other  provisions,  dry  goods  and 
hardware,  and  every  article  known  to  commerce,  upon  their 
stalwart  shoulders.  Loads  which  would  crush  an  average 
European  to  the  ground  they  hoist  to  their  shoulders  or  lift 
to  their  heads,  and  trot  off  with  them  as  though  burdened 
only  with  a  feather  duster. 

The  Singhalese  men  wear  high  tortoise-shell  combs, 
which  give  them  a  very  odd  appearance.  To  see  a  stalwart, 
•  muscular  man  Avith  a  little  girl's  tortoise-shell  comb  perched 
on  the  top  of  his  head  is  a  combination  of  brawny  barba- 
rism and  Miss  IS'ancyism,  which  is  very  amusing. 

But  we  have  lingered  as  long  as  our  journey  will  permit 
amid  the  soft  breezes  of  Cevlon,  and  must  take  the  steamer 
across  the  turbulent  strait  that  separates  us  from  the  main- 
land of  India. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

IN  SOUTHERN  INDIA. 

Journey  with  a  Bad  Reputation  —  Landing  at  Tuticorin  —  Railway 
Traveling  in  India  —  A  New  Use  for  a  Dirty  Sock  —  Preparing  for  Hot 
Weather  —  House  Building  in  the  Tropics —  "  Give  the  Sun  no  Chance  " 
—  Horses  under  Pith  Hats  —  Barren  India  —  On  the  Ragged  Edge  of 
Famine  —  Gaunt  Starvation  —  Disputing  with  the  Ants  —  Buffaloes 
and  Long-legged  Goats  —  A  Sunset  Scene  —  A  Missionary  Bungalow  — 
A  Girls'  Boarding  School  —  How  They  Make  up  Their  Beds  —  An  In- 
ventory of  a  Maiden's  Jewels  —  A  Missionary's  Manifold  Labors  —  A 
Picnic  in  the  Jungle  —  The  "Nine  Lac  Garden"  —  Serious  Duties 
Again  —  A  Bicycle  Story  —  The  Good  Devil  and  his  Terrible  Bell  — 
"  Tell  Me  Your  Name,  Good  Devil  "  —  Bound  in  the  Shackles  of  the 
Caste  System  —  Encouragement  for  the  Future  —  A  Brave  Brahmin. 


HE  journey  from  Colombo  to  Tuti- 
corin has  anvthinff  but  an  envia- 
ble  reputation,  but  it  is  like  some 
people  whose  reputation  is  worse 
than  their  actual  character,  or 
who  at  least  have  lucid  intervals 
when  their  better  natures  pre- 
vail. We  found  the  short  journey 
of  a  day  and  a  night  between 
the  two  ports  very  pleasant  and 
restful.  The  British  India 
steamer  was  large  and  com- 
fortable; the  sea  was  smooth  and  smiling;  and  even  the 
dreaded  landing  at  Tuticorin,  which  had  been  pictured  to  us 
as  a  most  harrowing  experience,  was  by  no  means  as  bad  as 

we  expected. 

(294) 


RAILWAY   TRAVEL  IN  INDIA.  295 

On  all  this  southern  coast  of  India  there  is  not  a  good 
harbor,  and  Tuticorin,  like  the  great  capital  of  Madras,  is  sit- 
uated on  the  stormy,  surf-beaten  shore  of  the  open  ocean. 

At  Tuticorin  passengers  are  taken  ashore  by  a  small, 
puflBng,  bobbing  tug-boat,  whose  gyrations  often  try  even 
the  strongest  stomach.  Calm  as  was  the  day  on  which 
we  landed,  the  little  steamer  which  came  to  take  us  off 
jumped  and  bumped  against  her  larger  sister, 'and  threatened 
to  tear  away  the  gangway  which  had  been  let  down  for  us 
to  descend.  However,  by  skillful  manoeuvring,  we  got  away 
from  the  great  ship's  side  without  any  serious  damage,  and, 
in  course  of  time,  we  landed  at  the  tiny  wharf  which  ran  out 
from  the  shore. 

^ 

Tuticorin  is  a  long,  low,  rambling,  native  town,  contain- 
ing about  twenty  European  inhabitants.  It  does  not  invite 
the  traveler  to  linger  long  in  its  hot  and  dusty  streets.  "We 
found  our  way  to  the  railway  station  and  were  soon  aboard 
the  train  for  Madura,  the  largest  city  of  Southern  India. 

Railway  traveling  in  Southern  India  has  some  peculiari- 
ties which  distinguish  it  from  travel  in  other  parts  of  the 
world.  The  distances  are  long,  the  trains  are  slow,  and 
much  of  the  journey  must  be  done  at  night,  so  that  every 
first  and  second-class  car  has  a  sleeping  compartment.  But 
do  not  imagine  for  a  moment,  my  reader,  that  a  Pullman  or 
Wagner  have  cast  their  inventive  spell  over  the  Indian  rail- 
ways. Far  from  it,  as  you  will  find  before  you  have  spent  a 
night  on  one  of  them.  There  are  two  tiers  of  berths  on  each 
side  of  each  compartment  running  lengthwise  w4th  the  car, 
and  sometimes  three  tiers,  and  on  these  narrow  shelves  one 
must  curl  up,  providing  his  own  blankets  and  pillows,  and 
thus  pass  as  comfortable  a  night  as  circumstances  will  permit. 

Manv  travelers  take  their  own  servants  with  them,  who 
make  up  their  beds  and  look  after  their  baggage,  and  even 


29G  A   NEW    WAY   TO   MAKE   COFFEE. 

provide  them  Avitli  lunches  from  the  capacious  hampers, 
which  are  usually  taken  along  on  such  journeys.  A  servant 
is  not  necessary,  however,  but  is  often  felt  to  be  rather  in 
the  way  by  those  who  are  accustomed  to  wait  upon  them- 
selves. There  are  occasional  eating  houses  provided  at  the 
stations  along  the  route,  and  any  number  of  coolies  may  be 
hired  at  a  moment's  notice,  who,  for  a  quarter  of  an  anna, 
or  one  cent,  ^Vill  carry  your  baggage  for  any  reasonable 
distance. 

The  ideas  of  some  of  these  native  servants  who  are  picked 
up  by  the  round-the-world  traveler,  as  to  the  proprieties  of 
civilized  life,  are  sometimes  startling.  To  this,  that  traveler 
will  testify  who  woke  up  one  morning  and  looked  aghast  as 
he  saw  his  servant  straining  his  morning  coffee  through  one 
of  his  socks  which  had  been  discarded  the  night  before. 
Springing  from  his  berth  the  traveler  cried  out :  "  What  are 
you  doing,  you  rascal,  what  are  you  straining  that  coffee 
through  ?  "  "  Oh,  master,  master,"  replied  the  terrhBed  ser- 
vant, "  it  is  not  master's  clean  stocking,  it  is  master's  dirty 
stocking.  Coolie  will  not  use  master's  clean  stocking  for 
coffee."  The  master,  however,  was  hardlv  reassured  bv  this 
information,  and  lost  his  appetite  for  his  usual  morning 
beverage,  as  can  be  easily  imagined. 

These  railway  cars,  like  everything  else  in  India,  are  built 
for  hot  weather  which,  in  the  southern  part  of  the  continent 
at  least,  prevails  for  eleven  months  in  the  year.  So  every- 
one prepares  for  the  hot  weather,  and  the  people  suffer  as 
little,  I  imagine,  from  the  extreme  heat  as  inhabitants  of  a 
northern  clime  suffer  from  extreme  cold.  The  pity  that  is 
lavished  upon  dwellers  in  the  tropics  on  account  of  the  heat 
they  endure  and  on  the  inhabitants  of  Arctic  regions  on 
account  of  the  cold  they  suffer,  is  largely  misplaced,  as  these 
inhabitants  themselves  would  assert. 


"  /-^TTTT"     rrxTrri     OTTXT    ■\Tr\     /~<XJ  A  Vr/^TP    " 


GIVE   THE   SUN  NO   CHANCE."  297 

As  I  said,  in  India  even  the  railway  cars  are  built  for  hot 
weather.  The  double  roof  keeps  the  sun  from  beating 
directly  upon  the  passengers ;  the  wide,  projecting  blinds 
ward  off  his  beams  from  the  windows,  which  are  often  made 
of  smoked  glass,  the  better  to  protect  the  traveler ;  the  seats 
are  not  upholstered  in  plush  and  woolen,  but  in  cool  leather 
or  still  cooler  straw,  and  often  at  the  stations  water  bv  the 
bucketful  is  thrown  over  the  top  of  the  cars  and  allowed  to 
trickle  down  their  sides  that  evaporation  may  keep  the  occu- 
pants cooler. 

This  regard  for  the  season,  too,  regulates  the  building  of 
the  houses,  which  for  the  most  part  are  high-posted  dwell- 
ings of  one  story,  with  ample  verandas,  and  wide  doors 
which  are  seldom  closed,  day  or  night.  A  screen  with  a 
wide  space  at  the  top  and  bottom  of  the  doors  affords 
ample  privacy,  and  in  every  way  air  is  encouraged  to  circu- 
late above  and  below,  and  wherever  a  breath  of  wind  can  be 
prevailed  upon  to  blow„ 

The  airy  costumes  of  the  people  emphasize  the  fact  that 
they  live  in  the  tropics,  while  foreigners  usually  provide 
themselves  with  huge  pith  hats,  which,  though  far  from 
comely,  protect  the  sensitive  skull  of  the  European  from  the 
burning  rays  of  the  sun. 

"  Give  the  sun  no  chance,"  is  one  of  the  proverbs  on 
every  person's  tongue.  If  he  once  shoots  his  rays  upon  you, 
so  that  you  are  even  partly  stricken  by  them,  it  is  very  diffi- 
cult ever  after  to  live  in  India.  Even  horses  in  many  cities 
are  protected  by  pith  helmets.  At  the  best,  these  poor 
creatures  do  but  little  work  when  compared  with  their 
Northern  brethren.  Eight  or  ten  miles  a  day  for  a  horse, ' 
unless  he  be  one  of  the  hardy  native  ponies,  is  considered  a 
sufficient  daily  task  for  these  tropical  latitudes.  Men  and 
women,  too,  learn  to  take  life  more  easily  here  than  in  the 


298  ON  THE  VERGE   OF  FAM'INE. 

Kortli.  Early  morning  tea,  often  in  bed,  a  late  breakfast, 
with  a  nap  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  and  dinner  towards 
sunset,  is  the  usual  routine  of  family  life.  Work,  both  in- 
tellectual  and  physical,  must  be  done  in  the  cool  of  the  day ; 
exercise  must  be  taken  when  the  sun  is  sinking  below  the 
horizon,  or  not  at  all. 

Southern  India  was  much  more  barren  and  desert-like 
than  we  had  supposed.  "India's  coral  strand"  had  always 
been  pictured  to  our  imagination  as  clothed  in  living  green 
and  begirt  with  waving  palm  trees.  When  we  saw  it  vegeta- 
tion was  as  withered  and  much  of  the  land  was  as  parched  as 
the  desert  of  Sahara  itself.  Gaunt,  bleak  mountains  rose  in 
the  distance,  and  as  we  came  nearer  we  could  see  that  they 
were  treeless  and  pastureless ;  no  gurgling  brooks  ran  down 
their  thirsty  sides,  no  growth  of  spruce  and  hemlock,  pine  or 
fir,  which  make  our  American  hills  so  beautiful,  clothed 
their  ragged  spurs,  but,  a"rid  and  bare,  they  stood  out  in  the 
blazing  sunlight,  the  bleached  monuments  of  many  cen- 
turies of  drought. 

Many  dry  seasons  have  succeeded  one  another  in  some 
parts  of  Soutliern  India,  and  in  not  a  few  places  the  people, 
always  on  the  verge  of  famine,  had  crossed  the  terribly  nar- 
row line  which  separates  them  from  poverty  or  actual 
starvation. 

In  many  places  in  the  fields  we  could  see  men  and 
women  digging  eagerly  for  dry  roots,  which  in  times  when 
the  crops  fail  and  dire  necessit}"  urges,  are  used  for  food,  but 
which  are,  at  the  best,  very  coarse  and  distasteful  fare.  .In 
other  places  Ave  could  see  old  women  crouching  over  and 
hobbling  along  the  road,  picking  up,  grain  by  grain,  a  few 
scattered  kernels  of  rice  which  had  fallen  from  the  scanty 
sheaves  which  the  men  had  borne  along  before  them.  A 
missionary  friend  told  me  that  he  had  more  than  once  seen 


ROBBING  THE  ANTS   OF  THEIR   STORES. 


299 


the  people  scratching  in  the  ant-hills  for  grain  hidden  by  the 
industrious  insects  for  future  use,  so  reduced  and  poverty- 
stricken  are  the  masses  of  the  j^eople. 

The  government  had  started  relief-works  in  some  parts 
of  India,  anticipating  a  famine,  and  the  missionaries  were 
busy,  even  in  the  early  spring,  in  distributing  what  they 
could  afford,  to  keep  their  people  from  actual  starvation. 


NATIVES   OP   SOUTHERN   INDIA. 


The  price  of  rice,  which  in  seasons  of  plenty  goes  as  low  as 
sixteen  measures  to  the  rupee,  now  has  gone  up  to  five  and  six 
measures  to  the  rupee,  and  it  can  be  imagined  how  little  the 
people  whose  crops  have  failed  get  for  the  few  "pice"  they 
have  at  their  disposal  for  their  daily  rations.  Those  who 
live  in  more  favored  lands,  where  famine  is  unknown  and 
the  rains  never  fail,  can  scarcely  comprehend  what  it  is  to 
see  the  gaunt  form  of  Famine  stalking  along  the  highway. 


300  SEEN   FROM   THE   CAR  WINDOW. 

Scenes  from  tlie  car  window,  however,  are  not  altogether 
sad  and  gloomy.  The  railway  stations  are  alive  with  dusky 
people  in  many  colored  garments.  Even  the  dry  fields  seem 
to  afford  some  nourishment  for  the  hump-backed  cows,  and 
the  smooth-haired,  rhinoceros-like  buffaloes;  while  great 
herds  of  long-legged  goats,  which  appear  to  be  walking  on 
stilts,  show  the  sky  line  plainly  beneath  their  bellies,  as  one 
looks  out  upon  the  fields  where  they  are  grazing  in  every 
direction. 

The  goatherds,  as  in  Scripture  times,  are  watching  over 
their  flocks,  and  sometimes,  as  they  go  on  before  to  better 
pastures,  they  are  followed  by  long  lines  of  their  gaunt 
flocks  marching  in  single  file  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long,  over 
the  dry  and  dusty  fields. 

Here  and  there  we  pass  tanks  and  reservoirs  of  water 
which  are  not  entirely  dry.  Occasionally  we  see  treadmill 
bullocks,  hitched  to  long  ropes  by  which  water  is  raised 
from  the  depths  below  and  poured  into  the  open  ditches, 
whence  it  is  conveyed  to  the  few  rice  fields  w^hich  the  inhab- 
itants are  still  trying  to  cultivate. 

As  the  day  goes  on  the  evening  coolness  steals  over  us, 
and  with  the  setting  sun  the  most  delightful  period  of  the 
Indian  day  approaches.  The  whole  western  sky  is  suffused 
with  brilliant  light;  a  delicate  pink  above  shades  off  into 
vivid  crimson  and  purple  near  the  horizon.  ISTot  a  particle 
of  vapor  is  in  the  air,  and  the  clear,  transparent  sky  above, 
unflecked  with  clouds,  is  made  strangely  luminous  by  the 
brilliancy  of  the  departing  "King  of  Day."  Lower  and 
lower  sinks  the  sun,  and  the  glories  above  the  horizon  be- 
come less  pronounced  but  more  delicate  in  their  tone,  while 
«ven  now^  is  rising  the  full,  silvery  moon.  At  least,  on  this 
journey  to  Madura  she  rose  as  the  sun  went  down  and 
flooded  the  plains  Avith  her  mellow  light. 


A  missionary's  bungalow. 


301 


And  now  everything  is  glorified ;  the  squalid  hovels  of 
the  pariahs  are  touched  with  silver ;  the  rugged  outlines  of 
the  hills  are  softened  and  mellowed ;  the  dry  and  parched 
rice  fields,  which  would  bear  not  even  a  cupful  of  precious 
grain  for  their  cultivators,  look,  under  this  silvery  radiance, 
like  the  favored  gardens  of  the  gods,  and  everything  is 
changed  from  the  harsh  brilliance  of  sunlight  to  the  mellow 
glories  of  the  evening. 

A  journey  of  two  hours  after  sunset  brought  us  to  some 


A  NATIVE  VILLAGE   OP   SOUTHERN   INDIA. 

dear  friends  in  the  first  missionary  bungalow  which  it  was 
our  privilege  to  visit  in  India. 

Imagine  a  long,  low  building  with  wide  verandas,  sup- 
ported by  large  pillars.  The  out-lying  buildings  are  quite 
impressive,  not  by  reason  of  their  magnificence  or  architec- 
tural beaut}^,  but  because  of  their  extent,  for  the  sleeping 
rooms  must  be  large  and  airy  to  be  in  anywise  tolerable  in 
the  hot  season,  and  the  missionary  is  often  expected  to  enter- 
tain guests,  which  compels  him  to  have  a  house  of  generous 
size.     The  irreverent  elobe-trotter  who  goes  home  to  deride 


302  THE   DISPENSARY  AND  BOARDING   SCHOOL. 

missionary  life,  and  to  tell  about  the  luxury  and  extrava- 
gance of  missionaries'  homes,  is  frequently  very  glad  to  take 
shelter  beneath  this  hospitable  roof  when  he  finds  himself  in 
an  Indian  city  with  no  other  place  in  which  to  spend  the 
night  than  the  indifferent  traveler's  bungalow. 

A  little  away  from  the  first  bungalow,  into  which  we 
were  introduced  to  missionary  life,  stands  another  house, 
that  of  the  medical  missionary.  Here,  tens  of  tliousands  of 
suffering  natives  every  year  obtain  medicine  or  surgical 
treatment  which  restores  them  to  health  and  strength. 
There  is  no  more  powerful  auxiliary  of  missionary  effort 
than  the  surgeon's  knife,  and  the  well-stocked  dispensary. 
On  either  side  of  the  central  bungalow  are  the  teachers' 
houses,  where  the  unmarried  ladies  of  the  mission  have  their 
abode,  and  near  by  is  the  dormitory  for  the  girls'  boarding 
school.  We  find  no  dainty,  carpeted,  and  curtained  bou- 
doirs such  as  Yassar,  Smith,  and  Wellesley  can  boast,  but  a 
low  shed-like  building,  which  affords  shelter  and  the  few 
necessary  conveniences  to  the  girls  who  are  here  obtaining 
an  education. 

No  four-posted,  spring  beds,  with  hair  mattresses,  are 
required  for  these  damsels,  for,  if  we  look  closely,  we  shall 
see  the  beds  for  fifty  of  them  rolled  up  and  stuck  into  a  little 
case  like  an  umbrella  rack.  Each  maiden  has  one  mat  for 
her  bed,  and  all  she  has  to  do  when  bedtime  comes  is  to 
unroll  her  mat,  spread  it  on  the  floor,  and  go  quietly  off  to 
the  Land  of  Kod.  What  a  saving,  this,  of  chambermaids 
and  household  annoyances,  to  be  thus  independent  of  sheets 
and  blankets  and  spring  mattresses !  And  here  are  the  girls 
themselves  in  their  schoolroom,  gathered  for  evening  pray- 
ers, a  hundred  bright-eyed,  earnest,  intelligent  damsels, 
many  of  them  exceedingly  pretty,  and  showing  in  their 
faces  their  capacity  for  intellectual  discipline.     To  be  sure. 


A  schoolgirl's  jewels. 


303 


their  clothes  and  their  ornaments  look  strange  to  unaccus- 
tomed e3^es.  A  long  piece  of  brilliant  cloth  affords  ample 
clothino-  to  answer  all  the  demands  not  onlv  of  decency,  but 
modesty.  The  ears  of  many  of  them  are  full  of  jewels  from 
the  upper  to  the  lower  rim. 

Let  us  take  an  inventory  of  the  jewels  which  bedeck  one 
of  these  little  maidens. 

On  her  wrists  are  seven  bracelets,  on  each  ankle  three 
more  tinkling  silver 
circlets,  her  nose  is 
pierced  with  rings 
•and  is  glowing  with 
sparkling  jewels, 
which  are  probably 
paste,  but  in  any 
event  are  most  pre- 
cious in  the  eyes  of 
this  unsophisticated 
damsel,  while  in  her 
ears  are  no  less  than 
five  rings,  some  of/ 
them  of  ei 

size.     Some  of  these  ^ 
girls  have  their  ears 
not  only  pierced,  but 

slit  open  so  widely  that  three  or  four  fingers  of  one's  hand 
might  easily  be  thrust  into  them,  and  heavy  pewter  bangles 
dangle  from  them,  resting  oftentimes  upon  their  shoulders. 

The  Christian  girls,  however,  eschew  these  ornaments 
more  and  more  as  thev  are  brouo-ht  under  missionary  in- 
fluence,  and  not  a  few  of  them  have  had  their  ears  sewed  up 
again,  as  they  have  learned  to  appreciate  the  barbarity  of 
their  ornaments.     In  another  part  of  the  mission  compound 


;,   some    ot/// //..X'^^rAl  ■       'i  !■''»> - 
!normous,£y-  isfTwii'  S^^-'M^'' 


JEWELS  OF   INDIA. 


304 


AN   INEXPENSIVE   EDUCATION. 


is  a  row  of  little  cell-lilve  rooms,  where  the  girls  retire  every 
morning  and  evening  for  private  devotions,  not  being  able  to 
have  much  privacy  in  the  common  sleeping  room.  Their 
bill-of-fare  is  not  the  elaborate  memi  of  a  girls'  college  at 
home,  of  which  the  comic  papers  are  so  fond  of  making  fun, 
but  is  a  very  simple  one,  consisting  largely  of  rice  and  grain 
and  curry.  The  girls  grind  their  own  grain  in  primitive 
stone   mills,  such  as  were  used  in  Bible  times;  while  the 

currv,  which  is  made 


of  various  ingredi- 
ents, peppers,  saffron, 
cardamon  seeds,  co« 
coanut,  etc.,  mixed 
together,  is  rolled  un- 


jJ[^,    der  a  heavy  stone  in 
much  the  same  wav, 


GRINDING   CURRY, 


-  and  thus  prepared  for 
/  table  use.  As  can  be 
imagined,  their  sini- 
5^  pie  living,  which  sat- 
^^^^^  "^  isfies  every  want  and 
is  all  that  they  are 
accustomed  to,  costs 
exceedino^lv  little. 
Twelve  dollars  a  vear  will  support  one  of  these  dainty 
maidens,  or  one  of  her  brothers  in  the  boys'  school,  in 
another  part  of  this  same  missionary  compound.  What  do 
you  think  of  that,  O  students  of  Yale  and  Harvard.  The 
twelve  dollars  would  be  considered  by  most  of  you  a  scanty 
supply  for  the  expenses  of  one  week,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
other  fifty-one  in  the  year. 

About  the  walls  of  this  mission   bungalow  lizards  are 
crawling,  deftly  catching  the  flies  and  mosquitoes,  proving 


BISHOP,    PASTOR,    TEACHER,    PHYSICIAN.  305 

themselves  very  good  insect  exterminators.  On  this  account 
they  are  often  welcomed  by  the  inhabitants,  and  live  for 
months  and  years  in  the  same  room  without  being  disturbed. 
Crows,  with  slate-colored  necks,  go  hopping  about  every- 
w^here,  so  tame  and  audacious  that  they  will  fly  into  the  very 
dining-room  and  pick  the  food  off  of  the  tables.  In  the  open 
compound  the  white  bullocks,  which  are  used  to  draw  the 
missionaries'  bandies,  are  grazing,  and  before  the  door 
beautiful  flowers  and  groups  of  bright-leaved  plants  are 
growing. 

Altogether  it  is  a  very  comfortable  and  pretty  picture 
which  the  missionary  bungalow  presents  to  the  visitor's  eyes. 
If  he  stays  long  enough  to  get  into  the  missionary  spirit  he 
will  see  the  vast  amount  of  hard,  self-sacrificing  work  which 
is  accomplished  every  day, —  a  work  which,  though  its  results 
seem  small  and  meagre  at  times,  is  laying  the  foundation  for 
a  great  Christian  empire  in  India, —  a  work  which  will  bear 
fruit  a  hundredfold  in  this  world  and  a  thousand  times  a 
hundredfold  in  the  world  to  come. 

To  attempt  to  relate  the  manifold  work  of  the  mission- 
ary's most  interesting  and  varied  labors  w^ould  be  impossible 
in  this  connection.  He  is  not  the  pastor  of  a  single  flock,  as 
is  the  minister  at  home,  but  rather  the  bishop  of  a  district 
containing  hundreds  of  thousands,  or  perhaps  millions  of 
souls.  Under  him  are  catechists,  pastors,  Bible  w^omen,  and 
helpers  of  both  sexes ;  schools  for  boys  and  schools  for  girls ; 
relief  work  for  those  who  are  in  dire  poverty,  and  hospitals 
where  thousands  of  out-patients  and  hundreds  of  in-patients 
are  treated  every  year. 

But  it  must  not  be  thought  by  any  of  my  readers  that 
the  missionary  is  so  wholly  given  over  to  the  affairs  of  the 
other  world,  that  he  has  no  regard  for  the  good  things  of 
this  life.     He  is  not  by  any  means  an  ascetic  if  he  is  a  true 

19 


300  PESTS   OF  THE  JUNGLE. 

missionary  of  Christ,  for  liis  Master  set  liim  no  such  ex- 
am])le.  His  mission  in  part  is  to  live  among  the  people  as  a 
man  among  men ;  to  sho\v  them  by  example  what  a  Chris- 
tian home  may  be,  and  to  elevate  them  to  his  own  standard 
as  far  as  he  may  be  able. 

There  is  much  hearty  good  cheer  and  fellowship  in  these 
stations,  especially  when  missionaries  come  together  for  the 
annual  meeting,  from  their  different  fields  of  labor.  It  was 
our  privilege  to  be  present  at  some  of  these  annual  meetings 
of  different  missions  in  India,  and  to  know  something  of  the 
good  cheer  as  well  as  of  the  hard  work  of  missionary  life. 

A  missionary  picnic  in  the  jungles  of  Southern  India  will 
long  live  in  our  memories  as  a  pleasant  picture.  The  jungle 
is  not  always  an  impenetrable  tangle  of  tropical  shrubs  and 
climbing  creepers,  as  ])erhaps  many  of  my  readers  unagine, 
but  is  a  common  name  often  given  to  the  forest  land  of  India, 
and  is  sometimes  a  delightful  place  for  a  holiday  excursion, 
as  in  this  case.  Though,  to  be  sure,  one  must  keep  a  bright 
eye  out  for  cobras  and  other  venomous  snakes,  and  he  need 
not  travel  far  from  any  city  of  Southern  India  to  find  the 
dreaded  cheetah  or  panther  of  the  jungle. 

This  particular  picnic  which  I  have  in  mind  was  in  the 
"Nine  Lac  Garden,"  as  it  is  called.  A  "lac"  is  a  hundred 
thousand,  and  the  "Nine  Lac  Garden"  was  the  garden 
of  nine  hundred  thousand  trees,  planted  by  the  prince  of 
Arcot  many  years  ago.  The  reckless  prince  squandered  his 
patrimony,  and  lost  the  Nine  Lac  Garden  with  the  rest 
of  his  property,  and  now  all  his  nine  hundred  thousand 
cocoanut  trees  and  palmyra  palms,  mangoes,  tamarinds,  and 
guavas,  have  passed  into  the  hands  of  aliens.  It  still  affords, 
however,  as  delightful  a  place  as  ever  for  a  summer  holiday. 

Here,  under  the  spreading  banyan  trees,  were  laid  the 
snowy  white  tablecloths,  while  the  bachelor  missionaries,  by 


PICNICKING   IX  INDIA.  307 

whom  the  picnic  was  given,  exercised  their  skill  in  providing 
many  toothsome  dishes;  ending  the  entertainment  with  a 
grand  surprise,  which  was  no  other  than  some  bricks  of  ice 
cream  from  Madras.  To  be  eating  various  kinds  of  ice 
cream  on  a  hot  February  day  in  the  jungle  of  Southern 
India,  did  not  at  all  correspond  with  our  preconceived  ideas 
of  life  in  the  forests  of  India,  but  railways  and  express 
messengers  and  telegraphic  communication  have  made  it 
possible  to  have  all  the  necessities  and  many  of  the  luxuries 
of  civilized  life  in  regions  where  a  few  years  ago  they  were 
unheard  of.  After  an  hour  or  two  of  hearty  good  cheer,  we 
took  our  places  in  our  gharris  once  more,  and  were  driven 
back  to  one  of  the  serious  duties  of  missionary  life — a  meet- 
ing for  the  educated  Hindus,  in  a  village  near  by.  Thus 
the  day  was  ended  as  it  had  begun,  and  was  continued  in 
earnest  effort  for  the  people  round  about,  as  every  day  is 
spent  by  our  missionary  friends.  The  picnic  was  an  episode 
and  breathing  spell,  as  necessary  and  deserved  as  a  parson's 
holiday  at  home,  or  a  student's  outing  after  a  long  term  of 
study. 

Thus  we  rode  back  to  meetings  and  services  with  which 
all  our  days  in  India  were  filled;  some  in  open  carriages, 
some  in  bullock  bandies,  and  some  of  the  missionaries  on 
their  favorite  steed,  the  bicycle. 

Many  amusing  stories  are  told  of  the  effect  upon  cred- 
ulous natives  of  the  first  appearance  of  a  missionary  upon 
his  wheel. 

As  one  of  the  missionaries  was  riding  along  at  niglit 
on  his  high  wheel,  he  met  a  Hindu,  who,  in  the  gloom 
of  the  evening,  could  see  only  his  high-perched  form  sup- 
ported, apparently,  by  nothing,  moving  at  a  tremendous 
pace  over  the  macadamized  road.  As  the  missionary  ap- 
proached he  rang  his  bell  that  the  Hindu  might  get  out  of 


308  AN  AMUSING  STORY. 


» 


the  way.  This  completely  paralyzed  the  poor  fellow,  and 
falling  upon  his  knees  he  cried  out :  "  Oh !  good  devil,  good 
devil,  tell  me  your  name,  tell  me  your  name,  good  devih 
Oh !  Oh ! !  Oh ! ! !  I  never  did  you  any  harm,  good  devil. 
Go  awav,  ffo  awav  1  Oh  !  Oh ! !  Oh ! ! ! "  Then  he  beo^an  to 
scream  and  run,  and  just  kept  ahead  of  the  wheel  in  what 
seemed  to  him  its  demoniacal  course.  Seeing  that  he  could 
not  gain  on  the  "good  devil,"  and  hearing  the  terrible  bell 
sounding  in  his  ears  and  proclaiming  his  destruction,  as  it 
doubtless  did  to  his  excited  imagination,  he  broke  inconti- 
nently across  the  fields  and  ran  with  all  his  might  to  the 
nearest  village,  to  tell  how  he  had  been  chased  by  an  evil 
spirit,  who  was  sounding  the  very  tomtom  of  Hades  in  his. 
ears.  ]^o  wonder  that  such  a  sight  thus  affected  his  un- 
tutored imagination. 

The  morning  of  the  day  on  which  we  enjoyed  this  unique 
picnic  in  the  Indian  jungle  had  been  spent  in  visiting  mission- 
ary schools,  dispensaries,  hospitals,  and  evangelistic  Avork. 
And  the  evening  concluded,  as  I  have  said,  with  a  meeting 
of  educated  Hindus. 

This  movement  among  the  educated  classes  of  India  is 
most  interesting  and  hopeful.  Though  few  of  the  higher 
castes  are  as  yet  directly  connected  with  the  Christian 
church,  the  leaven  of  the  Gospel  is  evidently  working  among 
them.  For  the  most  part  they  are  very  friendly  to  the  mis- 
sionaries, and  open  to  their  influence  in  social  and  educa- 
tional matters,  while  in  efforts  for  the  temperance  cause,  the 
Brahmins,  who  by  religion  and  heritage  are  strict  teetotalers, 
work  together  with  the  missionaries  for  the  uplifting  of  their 
fellow  men. 

In  some  places  the  missionaries  have  established  lyceums 
and  debating  societies,  and  in  connection  with  these,  high 
caste  people   are  brought,  to   some  extent   at   least,  under 


A  DARING   BRAHMIN.  309 

the  influence  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  As  yet  the  great 
masses  of  Hindus  are  bound  hand  and  foot  by  the  fetters 
of  their  caste  system,  which  is  more  inexorable  than  any 
other  social  system  that  ever  existed,  probably,  in  the 
history  of  the  world.  But  it  is  interesting  to  notice  that 
these  shackles  are  giving  way. 

In  one  of  the  villages  of  Southern  India,  a  Brahmin,  who 
had  become  convinced  of  the  degrading  and  benumbing 
mfluences  of  his  people's  prejudices,  recently  advertised  pub- 
licly in  the  papers,  that  he  would  accejit  the  invitation  of 
any  cleanly  vegetarian  of  a  lower  caste  who  should  invite 
him  to  dine  with  him.  This  was  a  challenge  thrown  in  the 
very  teeth  of  public  opinion.  Isot  long  after  it  was  accepted, 
and  a  low-class  Hindu  gave  an  invitation  to  the  Brah- 
min to  dine  with  him  at  his  house  in  Madras.  True  to  his 
word  the  Brahmin  accepted  the  invitation,  and  on  his  next 
visit  to  Madras,  where  his  profession  as  a  lawyer  frequently 
•called  him,  he  dined  with  this  man  of  lower  caste,  not 
secretly,  but  in  the  most  public  way,  giving  notice  in  the 
papers  that  he  would  do  so,  and  inviting  other  Brahmins  to 
see  that  he  dared  to  resist  the  crushing  force  of  public 
opinion. 

Of  course,  he  was  read  out  of  their  synagogues,  his  wife 
and  all  his  family  connections  left  him,  as  he  knew  they 
would;  even  his  cook  refused  longer  to  prepare  his  food. 
For  two  weeks  he  was  actually  obliged  to  live  on  milk  and 
plantains,  which  require  no  cooking. 

But  his  courageous  example  is  infectious,  and  two  other 
brave  Brahmins  in  his  native  city  have  given  notice  that  they 
are  willing  to  dine  with  him  whenever  he  returns  to  his 
home,  though  they  know  it  means  to  them  loss  of  caste, 
social  ostracism,  and  public  disgrace  in  the  eyes  of  all  their 
old  companions.     It  means  that  their  wives  will  leave  them, 


310 


THE   BATTLE  AGAINST   CASTE   BEGUN. 


their  cooks  will  desert  thera,  and  they  will  be  practically 
outcast  wanderers  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Nevertheless, 
there  are  some  of  these  men  who  are  willing  to  endure 
this  obloquy  for  the  sake  of  freeing  their  nation  from  the 
galling  chains  which  enslave  her. 

In  one  of  these  public  meetings  for  educated  Hindus  of 
which  I  have  spoken,  I  have  heard  a  Brahmin  denounce  the 
caste  system  with  all  the  fire  and  fervency  and  elevation  of 
sentiment  that  a  devout  Christian  missionary  could  use. 

The  same  man,  ]^ayna  Sastri,  a  lawyer  of  Cuddapa,  who 
risked  his  all  in  dinino^  with  a  lower  caste  familv,  has  since 
issued  several  Social  Reform  pamphlets,  which  are  well 
worth  perusal  by  Englishmen  and  Hindus  alike,  for  the 
sake  of  the  high  moral  sentiments  which  they  inculcate. 

All  honor  to  such  brave  men  wherever  we  find  them. 
The  martyr  spirit  is  not  yet  dead  in  the  world.  There  are 
some  among  the  Brahmins  who  will  not  bow  the  knee  to 
the  Baal  of  caste.  Thank  God  for  the  courageous  and  heroic 
spirits  of  India.     May  their  number  multiply. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

FAMOUS  CITIES  OF  SOUTHERN  INDIA. 

A  Fascinating  Land  —  Gorgeous  Heathenism  —  Tattoo  Marks  and  Sacred 
Ashes  — A  Man  of  the  Thief  Caste  — A  Robber  Village  — Calling  the 
Roll  of  Thieves  —  The  Thief  Middleman  —  The  Women  at  the  Well  — 
The  Greasy  Fakir  —  Paying  Him  for  Drifting  to  Leeward  —  Blood- 
curdling Announcements  —  A  magnificent  Temple  —  Twenty-five  Mill- 
ions of  Dollars  —  Dusty  Gods  and  Goddesses  —  The  Holy  of  Holies  —  A 
Stone  Bull  in  a  Stone  Bath  Tub  —  The  God's  Bath  —  A  Beautiful  Pal- 
ace—  The  Temple  of  Tanjore — Filthy  Water  as  a  Purifier  of  Sins  — 
The  Last  Rajah  and  His  Wives  —  A  Wedding  Procession  —  The  Kick- 
ing Capacities  of  an  Old  Smooth-Bore  —  Vellore  and  its  Temple  —  Sus- 
pense and  Terror  — A  Brave  Rescue— The  Gallant  Horses  —  Tippoo 
Sahib's  Relatives  —  The  Madras  Hunt  —  The  Punkah  Wallah. 


iVEX  the  most  vigorous  traveler 
would  find  it  difficult  to  explore 
every  interesting  city  of  this  mar- 
velously  fascinating  land  of  India. 
I  must  be  content  to  take  my 
readers  to  a  few  of  the  places 
which  have  most  interested  me. 
Not  always  are  they  the  "show 
places "  of  India,  or  those  over 
which  the  traveler  always  goes 
into  raptures ;  these  places  you 
will  find  described  in  scores  of 
books  of  travel,  and  I  may  well  leave  them  to  those  who  are 
most  impressed  by  their  wonders  and  beauties,  while  I  de- 
scribe those  which  have  most  strongly  appealed  to  me. 

The  city  of  Madura,  to  my  mind,  is  one  of  the  most  inter- 

(311) 


312  THE   SIGN   UPON   THE   FOREHEAD. 

esting  cities  in  all  India.  Here  we  find  the  people  in  all  the 
gorgeousness  of  their  native  costumes,  splendidly  bejeweled, 
and  bedecked,  and  becrimsoned  with  the  gay  cloths  which 
they  wear  in  most  picturesque  fashion.  Here,  too,  the  deg- 
radation of  heathen  worship  is  seen  as  perhaps  nowhere  else 
in  India. 

In  the  North,  Brahminism  seems  to  be  a  more  refined 
and  occult  religion  than  in  the  South.  In  the  South  the 
religious  doctrines  appeal  to  the  senses,  and  the  magnificent 
temples  and  innumerable  gods  which  are  everywhere  wor- 
shiped, tell  of  centuries  of  idolatry  and  superstition. 

As  one  walks  along'  the  street,  he  is  struck  not  onlv  by 
the  costumes,  but  by  the  tattoo  marks  and  by  the  signs  on 
the  foreheads  of  the  people  whom  he  meets,  which  tell  of 
the  god  they  worship  and  of  the  caste  to  which  they  belong. 
Each  morning  they  smear  their  foreheads  with  sacred  ashes 
in  red  or  white  or  blue,  and  sometimes  with  a  combination 
of  all  the  colors.  Many  wear  a  single  spot  just  above  the 
bridge  of  the  nose.  Others  bedeck  themselves  with  three 
lines  running  from  their  eyebrows  to  their  hair,  while  the 
foreheads  of  others  are  decorated  transversely  from  temple ' 
to  temple  with  the  sacred  ashes  mingled  with  oil.  One  who 
has  lived  long  in  the  country  and  has  become  expert  in  the 
signs  on  the  forehead,  can  tell  at  a  glance  to  what  great 
caste  each  man  belongs,  though  it  is  impossible  to  distinguish 
the  minor  castes,  as  they  are  almost  numberless. 

As  I  was  sitting  in  a  mission  bungalow  one  day,  a  bright, 
intelligent  Hindu  entered  the  door,  and  spoke  to  the  mis- 
sionary in  charge  in  regard  to  some  church  work  which  had 
been  committed  to  him.  As  he  went  out,  my  friend  said  to 
me,  "  That  man  belongs  to  the  thief  caste."  I  was  quite  sur- 
prised at  this  piece  of  information,  for  the  man  appeared  to 
me  to  be    a  very  respectable  citizen,  and  he  was  clad  in 


A  CONVERTED   THIEF.  313 

sno\v-white  cloth  and  spotless  turban.  Instead  of  playing 
the  thief  on  this  occasion  he  made  me  a  most  respectful 
*'  salaam,"  as  he  came  into  the  room,  laving  the  flat  of  his 
hand  against  his  forehead,  and  then  very  courteously  stated 
his  business,  not  attempting  to  deprive  me  or  my  friend  of 
any  of  our  possessions. 

Before  he  departed  he  placed  a  little  lime,  the  symbol  of 
friendship  and  good  will,  in  the  palm  of  my  hand  and  then  re- 
spectfully retired.  "  That  man  belongs  to  the  robber  caste," 
said  my  friend.  "  What  do  you  mean  by  that  i "  I  asked. 
*'  Just  what  I  say,"  he  replied.  "  He  is  a  Christian  man 
now,  and  since  his  conversion  he  has  had  nothing  of  the  thief 
in  his  nature,  having  put  aside  the  '  works  of  darkness.' 
But  it  is  none  the  less  true  that  he  belongs  to  the  thief  caste 
and  lives  in  the  village  where  all  the  inhabitants  belong  to 
the  same  caste.  Some  vears  since  we  established  a  mission 
for  them  m  that  village,  a  number  have  left  their  thieving 
practices,  but  the  great  majority  of  the  inhabitants  still  con- 
tinue in  their  former  evil  ways.  The  reputation  of  this  vil- 
lage is  so  bad,  that  every  night  at  midnight  the  police  call 
the  roll  of  ever}^  adult  male  citizen,  and  every  man  of  them 
must  answer  to  his  name  at  the  roll  call,  and  show  that  he 
is  in  his  own  proper  habitation  at  the  hour  of  midnight. 
But  they  are  wily  fellows,"  continued  my  friend,  "  and  as 
soon  as  the  police  inspection  is  over  and  they  have  answered 
to  their  names,  they  are  off  on  their  marauding  expeditions 
once  more." 

"  Kearly  every  native  house  in  Madura  pays  tribute  to 
this  caste,"  he  went  on  to  say.  "  They  go  around  at  stated 
intervals,  demanding  a  rupee  or  some  small  piece  of  money. 
If  the  tax  is  not  paid  by  the  household  on  whom  the  demand 
is  made,  soon  it  is  found  that  a  cow  is  missing,  or  a  bullock 
is  hamstrung,  or  that  in  some  way  their  property  has  suf- 


314  PAYING    TRIBUTE   TO   ROBBERS. 

ferecl  damage."  "  But  why  do  they  not  apply  to  the  police  ? " 
I  asked.  "  Oh  !  "  said  my  friend,  "  the  police  are  oftentimes 
corrupt  and  in  league  with  the  robbers  themselves,  and  it  is 
more  trouble  and  annoyance  to  seek  the  aid  of  the  police,  or 
to  go  to  law  about  their  loss,  than  it  is  to  pay  the  small  trib- 
ute demanded  by  the  thieves.  When  anything  is  missing, 
the  natives  go  to  the  middlemen  who  abound  in  these  vil- 
lages of  the  thief  caste,  and  for  one-third  of  the  actual  price  of 
the  missing  article  they  buy  it  back.  For  instance,  if  a  cow 
valued  at  thirty  rupees  is  stolen,  the  owner  knows  that  ten 
rupees  ransom  money  paid  to  the  middleman  will  secure 
the  cow.  To  apply  to  the  police  and  go  through  the  tedious 
operations  of  law  in  getting  back  their  property,  would  cost 
so  much  more,  that  the  middleman's  services  are  usually 
employed,  demoralizing  as  the  effect  must  be  upon  the  peo- 
ple who  are  subject  to  such  extortions." 

One  of  the  characteristic  sights  of  Madura,  as  of  all  other 
cities  of  Southern  India,  is  that  of  the  women  at  the  w^ell 
with  bright  brass  water  jars,  which  they  are  filling  at  the 
public  fountain,  and  which  they  then  carry  home  on  their 
heads  or  in  a  basket  of  braided  rope. 

How  often  this  scene  has  reminded  us  of  our  Master's 
conversation  with  the  woman  of  Samaria  as  he  met  her 
drawing  water  for  her  family  needs,  in  just  the  same  way  so 
many  hundreds  of  years  ago. 

Another  common  sight  is  that  of  the  religious  mendicants 
or  fakirs,  Avho  adopt  every  conceivable  method  of  attracting 
attention. 

Here  is  one  with  long  hair,  w^iose  greasy,  dirty  ringlets 
reach  to  his  very  toes.  Another  with  filthy,  matted  hair 
thrusts  himself  upon  you  hoping  that  his  very  offensiveness 
wall  lead  you  to  buy  him  off  and  pay  him  for  getting  well  to 
the  leeward. 


<H     (U 

^, 

-'A! 

i     « 

'^ 

,  a 

u 

>,  '" 

-^  * 

-^ 

c  -a 

SNAKE  CHARMERS   OF   INDIA.  317 

Here  is  another  with  a  tomtom  and  a  curious  one- 
stringed  fiddle,  malving  what  he  calls  music,  but  what  any 
other  person  would  call  the  essence  of  hideous  noise.  Here 
is  a  snake  charmer  with  a  basket  of  wriggling,  writhing,  red- 
tongued  reptiles  on  his  head.  He  will  sometimes  open  this 
in  close  proximity  to  your  very  eyes,  and  you  involuntarily 
start  back  amazed  and  disgusted  at  the  contents  of  his 
basket. 

"H  this  snake  should  bite  you,"  said  one  of  these  gentry, 
at  the.  same  time  opening  one  of  the  baskets,  "j^ou  will  die 
in  fifteen  minutes.  If  this  one  should  bite  you,"  opening 
another  basket,  "you  will  die  in  ten  minutes."  Opening 
still  another  basket,  he  remarked  coolly,  "If  he  should  bite 
you,  you  will  die  in  five  minutes,"  and  still  another  basket 
was  opened  with  the  blood-curdling  announcement,  "If  this 
one  should  bite  you,  you  will  die  in  one  minute."  By  this 
time  my  friend  had  gotten  almost  out  of  sight  and  hearing, 
for  he  did  not  care  to  try  an}^  experiments  in  the  interests  of 
science. 

The  temple  of  Madura  is  probably  the  most  magnificent 
in  Southern  India,  as  it  is  certainly  the  largest  which  can  be 
found  in  any  part  of  this  land  of  temples.  It  is  impossible 
to  describe  the  thousands  and  thousands  of  sculptured  pillars, 
the  beautiful  tessellated  pavements,  the  painted  ceilings,  and 
the  rich  ornamental  stone-work  which  abounds  everywhere. 
The  mind  is  confused  by  the  very  richness  and  gorgeousness  of 
the  effect,  while  at  the  same  time  one  is  tempted  to  laugh  at 
the  grotesqueness  and  weep  over  the  indecency  of  many  of 
the  figures. 

The  great  towers  or  gopurams  of  this  temple  are  covered 
with  most  elaborate  figures  in  stone.  This  mighty  monu- 
ment of  heathenism  is  said  to  have  cost  five  millions  of 
pounds  sterling,  or  twenty-five  millions  of  dollars.     The  outer 


318 


GRIMY   GODS  AND  THEIR  GRIMY   WORSHIPERS. 


court  of  the  temple  is  occupied  by  those  who  buy  and  sell 
and  get  gain,  as  the  Jews  of  old  plied  their  business  in  the 

tem]:>le  courts  of  Je- 
rusalem. But  there 
is  no  occasion  for  a 
divine  reformer  with 
a  scourge  of  small 
cords  to  drive  out 
these  traffickers,  for 
the  w  o  r  s  h  i  p  that 
goes  on  within  the 
Holy  of  Holies  is 
more  degrading  than 
the  business  of  the 
outer  corridors.  It 
contains  no  spiritual 
elem  ent.     Various 


gods  and  goddesses 
are  seen  in  dusty  lit- 
tle niches,  dripping 
with  oil  and  grease, 
and  filthy  with  the 
dust  of  ages,  while 
before  them  is  some 
times  prostrated  a  de- 
vout worshiper  al- 
fl,  most  as  filthy  and  as 
greasy  as  the  gods 
themselves. 

But  for  the  most 
part  I  saw  little  re- 
spect paid  to  the  temple  or  the  gods  of  the  temple  by  the 
people  who  were  roaming  through  its  aisles.     If  thev  re- 


THE  GREAT  TEMPLE  OF  MADURA. 


A  CHARACTERISTIC   DIVINITY. 


319 


garded  the  place  as  sacred,  they  kept  their  opinions  very 
much  to  themselves,  for  it  seemed  to  have  little  more  sanc- 
tity for  those  whose  religion  was  here  embodied,  than  it 
had  for  us  of  Western  education  who  regarded  it  as  repre- 
senting gross  superstitions  and  abominable  idolatry. 

In  the  very  Holy  of  Holies,  where  the  chief  god  has  his. 
habitation,  no  stranger  is  allowed  to  go,  but  as  we  wandered 


THE  PAINTED   CORRIDOR   IN   THE   TEMPLE   OF   MADURA. 


about  the  temple  the  High  Priest,  with  a  numerous  retinue 
before  and  behind,  passed  on  into  this  holy  place. 

In  the  center  of  the  temple  is  a  stone  bull,  which  is  the 
characteristic  divinity  of  Southern  India.  This  particular 
bull  sits  in  a  stone  bath  tub,  which  was  built  around  him  at 
the  time  of  the  last  great  famine  in  1877,  in  the  hope,  I 
suppose,  that  if  he  sat  in  the  water  himself  he  would  cause 
the  rains  to  descend  upon  the  parched  fields  over  which  he 
presided  as  the  tutelary  divinity.     His  tub   has  remained 


320 


AN   idol's   yearly   OUTING. 


there  ever  since,  though  when  I  saw  it  it  was  very  dry  and 
dusty. 

In  another  part  of  Madura  is  a  vast  sacred  tank,  which 
hokls  a  large  amount  of  water.  In  the  middle  of  this 
artificial  lake  is  a  beautiful  little  island  containing  a  most 
elaborate  and  costly  temple.  To  this  temple,  once  a  year, 
over  the  green  and  slimy  waters  of  the  tank,  the  chief  god 
of  the  Madura  temple  is  carried  in  great  state  on  a  raft. 
This  great  event  causes  a  vast  commotion  among  the  people, 
who  flock  to  see  the  god  take  his  yearly  airing,  his  ride  on 
a  raft  to  the  temple  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  his  bath  in  the 


THE   SACRED   TANK   OF   MADURA. 


sacred  tank.  Certainly  all  the  gods  that  I  saw  in  the 
Madura  temple  looked  as  if  they  were  sadly  in  need  of  at 
least  an  annual  bath. 

The  palace  of  Madura  is  another  building  remarkable 
for  its  architectural  grandeur  and  imposing  effect.  It  rivals, 
in  my  opinion,  the  Vatican  of  Rome.  In  fact,  I  have  rarely 
seen  in  any  land  a  building  which  so  impressed  me  with  its 
lofty  arches  and  its  noble  Byzantine  columns. 

It  is  supposed  that  a  Mahommedan  architect  must  have 
designed  this  building  for  the  immensely  wealthy  rajith 
who  erected  the  temple  and  the  palace.  Now,  however, 
even  the  memory  of  the  architect,  who,  in  his  way,  must 
have  been  a  prince  of  the  guild,  has  passed  away.     The 


THE   TEMPLE   AT   TAXJORE. 


321 


palace  is  no  longer  in  the  hands  of  the  family  that  built  it, 
but  is  occupied  by  the  British  government  for  its  court 
rooms  and  offices,  and  for  this  purpose  it  affords  a  most 
admirable  building.  The  old  harem  of  the  king  is  now  one 
of  the  hio-h  courts  of  the  Madura  district,  a  far  worthier  use 


INTERIOR    OF    THE   GREAT   PALACE    OF   MADURA. 

to  put  the  apartment  to  than  that  for  which  it  was  origin- 
ally designed. 

Another  interesting  city  of  Southern  India  is  Tanjore. 
Here,  too,  the  temple  is  the  great  attraction  of  the  place, 
though  not  so  vast  and  elaborate  as  the  temple  of  Madura. 
It  stands  by  itself  and  impresses  the  observer  by  its  solitary 
magnificence  more  than  the  swarmino:  towers  and  endless 


322  A   STATELY    TOWER. 

pillars  and  corridors  of  the  Madura  temple.  The  central 
tower  of  this  temple  is  280  feet  high,  and  covers  the  holy 
of  holies  in  which  is  the  chief  idol.  This  central  tower  is,  to 
my  mind,  the  most  magnificent  piece  of  architecture  which 
I  have  seen  in  Southern  India.  'Next  to  the  Taj  Mahal,  per- 
haps, it  will  take  the  palm  from  all  other  architectural 
wonders  of  the  empire.  So  symmetrical  is  it,  that  its 
shadow  at  noon  does  not  project  beyond  its  base,  and  the 
tradition  is,  as  our  guide  told  us  in  his  broken  English,  that 
"it  never  cast  a  shadow,"  but  this  perpetual  miracle  is  not 
borne  out  by  the  facts  of  the  case. 

At  the  top  of  the  tower  is  a  huge  dome,  a  solid  granite 
block.  How  it  could  ever  be  placed  in  such  a  position  is 
beyond  my  conception.  Tradition  says  that  an  inclined 
plane  five  miles  in  length  was  built,  up  which  the  stone 
was  rolled  by  forced  labor.  Everything  about  this  gopuram 
from  base  to  pinnacle  is  of  granite,  sculptured  in  the  most 
elaborate  way,  with  figures  of  men,  animals,  gods,  and 
demons.  One  of  these  figures  is  sometimes  called  "John 
Bright."  It  represents  a  man  of  European  type  of  counte- 
nance, with  an  unmistakable  English  hat  on  his  head.  The 
tradition  for  many  years  before  the  British  occupancy  was 
that  men  with  such  features  and  such  "tiles"  on  their  heads 
would  sometime  conquer  and  bear  sway  over  India. 

Some  have  supposed  that  this  figure  represents  the 
famous  traveler,  Marco  Polo.  We  found  Marco  Polo  among 
the  five  hundred  Buddhists'  efiigies  in  the  great  temple  of 
Canton.  Here  we  find  his  possible  effigy  in  Southern  India, 
These  traditions  show  at  least  how  this  enterprising  traveler 
affected  the  imagination  of  many  nations. 

Of  course  we  saw  here  the  famous  ]S^andi,  the  sacred 
bull  of  Siva,  in  this  temple  as  in  others.  This  bull  is  the 
biggest  and  most  remarkable  of  all  his  stony  companions. 


NANDI,    THE   SACRED   BULL. 


}33 


He  is  sixteen  feet  long  and  twelve  feet  high,  and  is  sculpt- 
ured from  a  singie  block  of  syenite.  He  is  daily  anointed 
with  oil,  and,  as  the  dust  accumulates  upon  his  back,  he 
is  anything  but  a  pleasant  and  wholesome  object  to  look 
upon.  The  huge  stone  from  which  he  is  carved  weighs  hun- 
dreds of  tons  and  must  have  been  brought  at  least  four 
hundred  miles,  for  there  is  no  stone  of  this  description 
within  this  distance  from  Tanjore. 

A  sculptured  water-spout  in  another  part  of  the  temple, 


THE   SACKED   BULL   OF   SIVA, 

brings  the  greasy  water  which  is  poured  over  the  principal 
idol  which  has  his  habitation  in  the  most  hidden  recesses  of 
the  temple  visited  only  by  the  high  priests,  out  to  the  light 
of  day,  and  this  water  is  eagerly  caught  and  drank  bv  hun- 
dreds of  devout  worshipers.  Loathsome  and  impure. as  it 
looks,  this  water  is  supposed  to  purify  them  from  all  their 
sins.  One  would  rather  suppose  that  it  would  breed  all 
sorts  of  noxious  disease. 

There  are  other  interesting  sights  in  Tanjore  besides  the 
temple.     The  palace  of  the  former  king  of  Tanjore  is  well 

worth  visiting.     Rather  a  dilapidated  affair  it  is  at  present, 

3G 


324  A   DILAPIDATED   PALACE   AND   USELESS   GUN. 

uiid  even  in  its  best  estate  it  must  have  been  somewhat 
tawdry  in  its  decorations,  but  it  is  vast  in  its  circumference 
and  substantial  in  its  architecture,  and  not  unimposing. 
Here,  to  this  day  (though  the  last  rajah  died  thirty-seven 
years  ago),  still  live  some  of  his  man}"  wives  and  concubines. 
Tiie  wives  still  have  a  monthly  allowance  of  eight  hundred 
rupees  from  the  old  estate,  and  the  concubines  a  grant  of 
two  hundred  rupees  a  month. 

We  saw  the  place  where  the  women  were  confined, 
thouo-h  we  did  not  see  the  as:ed  matrons  themselves.  One 
of  them,  formerly  the  chief  wife,  is  now  about  sixty  years  of 
age,  and  the  vountjer  ones,  who  as  mere  children  were 
betrothed  to  the  rajah,  may  still  have  many  years  to  live, 
thoug'h  their  husband  has  been  dead  for  nearly  two  scores 
of  summers.  The  father  of  the  last  rajah  was  a  noted  man 
in  Tanjore;  a  man  of  great  strength  of  character  and 
ability,  which  was  not  inherited  by  his  son.  This  old  rajah 
was  a  friend  of  the  celebrated  English  missionary,  Schwartz, 
who  is  buried  in  an  old  church  near  by,  and  who,  more  than 
almost  any  other  man  of  his  time,  furthered  the  establish- 
ment of  the  English  government  and  of  English  civilization 
in  the  land  to  which  he  had  devoted  his  life. 

Our  vivacious  guide,  anxious  to  please  and  to  earn  his 
salary  of  a  rupee  for  his  day's  work,  then  took  us  to  the  big 
gun  of  Tanjore.  It  is  a  monster,  indeed,  but  about  as  useless 
as  any  Quaker  gun  that  was  ever  bored  out  of  a  big  cotton- 
wood.  This  cannon  is  more  than  twenty-four  feet  long, 
made  with  hug-e  ring's  of  iron  welded  together  with  brass. 
Its  circumference  is  more  than  ten  feet  and  its  bore  two  feet 
two  inches.  In  all  its  history  it  was  never  fired  but  once, 
and  then  so  frightened  were  the  gunners  and  so  convinced 
were  they  of  the  kicking  capacities  of  their  old  smooth-bore, 
that  they  laid  a  train  of  powder  two  miles  long,  which  took 


THE   SCENE   OF  A  FAMOUS   MUTINY.  325 

forty  minutes  to  burn  to  the  gun.  That  was  the  first  and 
last  time  that  tlie  ancient  cannon  was  used.  Since  tlien  it 
has  been  worshiped  as  a  god  in  times  of  peril.  It  now 
brings  to  the  guides  and  its  keeper  some  small  revenue  as  an 
object  which  every  traveler  must  see,  and  is  probably  quite, 
as  useful  as  ever  it  was  in  its  peaceful  and  uneventful  life. 

Another  interesting  town  of  Southern  India  is  Yellore. 
It  is  probably  little  visited  by  the  average  traveler,  but  as  a 
city  of  missionary  work  it  is  of  decided  interest,  and  also  for 
its  historic  associations,  which  are  well  worth  recording. 
Here,  also,  is  found  a  famous  old  temple,  now  entirely 
deserted  save  by  owls  and  bats,  its  silence  never  broken  by 
the  footfall  of  a  single  worshiper.  But  most  interesting  to 
me  was  the  old  fort  of  Yellore,  which  was  the  scene,  many 
years  ago,  of  one  of  the  mutinous  uprisings  of  Southern 
India.  The  English  officers  and  their  wives  who  were  sta- 
tioned here  were  surprised  and  overpowered,  and  confined  in 
the  narrow  room  over  the  gateway  of  the  fort.  Here  they 
waited  their  expected  doom  in  fear  and  trembling.  Their 
captors,  however,  before  putting  them  to  death  could  not  re- 
strain their  desire  to  sack  the  fort  and  make  way  with  the 
gastronomic  dainties  which  they  found  therein.  "While  they 
were  rioting  amid  the  unaccustomed  luxuries  of  the  officers' 
quarters,  one  of  the  beleaguered  prisoners  was  let  down  over 
the  wall,  and,  making  his  way  stealthily  from  the  fortress, 
ran  with  all  his  might  to  the  nearest  garrison,  which  was 
stationed  at  Ranipet,  some  fourteen  miles  away.  It  was  a 
long,  hard  road,  but  the  man  was  running  for  his  life  and  for 
the  lives  of  all  his  companions,  and,  breathless  and  excited, 
he  at  last  reached  the  garrison  at  Kanipet.  In  a  few  seconds 
the  troops  were  all  in  their  saddles,  galloping  as  fast  as  their 
steeds  could  carry  them  to  the  rescue  of  their  companions. 
Vellore  was  fourteen  miles  away  ;  the  road  was  by  no  means 


32G  THE  WELCOME   SOUND   OF   TRAMPLING   HOOFS. 

an  easy  one ;  the  bed  of  a  sandy  river  a  mile  and  a  half  in 
width  must  be  crossed ;  the  sand  was  ankle  deep,  and  was 
very  difficult  for  the  horses.  But  the  good  steeds  and  their 
riders  pressed  on,  for  they  knew  that  a  minute  of  delay 
might  mean  death  to  all  their  friends  at  Vellore.  The  be- 
leaguered prisoners  in  the  room  over  the  gateway  counted 
the  slow  minutes  as  they  dragged  on.  They  knew  that  soon 
the  rioters  would  be  satiated  ^vith  their  plunder,  and  would 
return  to  massacre  them  in  their  cell-like  prison.  They 
could  not  count  upon  many  minutes  of  respite.  They  heard 
their  keepers  discussing  how  they  should  be  put  to  death. 
They  knew  they  were  about  to  fall  upon  them  and  cut  them 
to  pieces  Avithout  mercy,  when,  in  the  far  distance,  they 
thought  they  heard  the  hoofs  of  advancing  horses.  N^earer 
and  nearer  came  the  rescuing  troops.  The  sound  of  tramping 
feet  was  never  more  grateful  to  strained  and  wearied  ears. 
At  last  the  horsemen  w^ere  seen  galloping  along  the  road  which 
led  to  the  castle  gate.  They  j^ressed  into  the  courtyard  and 
cut  to  pieces  the  mutineers  who  were  about  to  crimson  their 
blades  with  the  blood  of  their  officers.  Scarcely  a  man 
among  the  mutineers  was  left  to  tell  the  tale,  but  the  officers 
and  their  wives  in  the  room  over  the  gateway  w^ere  saved ;  and, 
as  they  looked  at  their  watches  to  see  how  long  the  rescuing 
troops  had  been  in  coming  to  their  relief,  it  was  found  that  it 
was  just  fifty  minutes  from  the  time  that  they  vaulted  into 
the  saddle  at  Ranipet  to  the  moment  that  they  were  at  the 
gates  of  the  castle  of  Vellore.  They  had  ridden  fourteen 
miles,  a  wide  river  bed  had  been  crossed,  their  companions 
rescued,  and  their  enemies  put  to  flight  all  within  an  hour. 
No  wonder  that  a  full  share  of  praise  w^as  bestowed  upon  the 
gallant  horses,  panting  and  reeking  with  their  hard  gallop 
across  the  hot  plains  under  the  broiling  sun  of  India. 

As  I  look  upon  this  fortress,  which  now  is  quite  deserted 


THE   CRUMBLING  FORT   OF   ARCOT.  337 

of  all  its  troops,  and  saw  the  wide  moat  around  it,  which, 
formerly  was  filled  with  hungry  alligators  who  snapped  up 
any  besieger  who  attempted  thus  to  get  within  the  castle 
gateway,  the  whole  scene  seemed  to  pass  before  me,  and  I 
could  almost  see  the  strained  and  eager  faces  of  the  beleag- 
uered families  looking  through  the  barred  gateway.  I 
could  almost  hear  the  wild  tramp  of  the  rescuing  troops. 

To  this  day,  the  relatives  of  Tippoo  Sahib,  the  famous 
mutineer,  though  he  was  not  implicated  in  the  outrage  I 
have  described,  are  confined  in  the  jail  within  the  confines 
of  this  old  castle. 

Another  most  interesting  town  of  this  region  is  the 
famous  old  capital  of  Arcot.  Noav  it  is  a  decadent  city  and 
the  fort  itself,  so  bravely  captured  and  held  by  Clive,  is 
quite  deserted  and  is  crumbling  to  ruins.  The  massive 
masonry  of  the  old  fort,  which  looks  as  though  it  was  built 
for  all  the  centuries,  is  gnawed  in  many  places  by  the  re- 
morseless tooth  of  time.  But  it  still  shows  in  its  massive 
ruggedness  what  it  must  have  been  in  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  when  it  was  taken  by  the  brave  young 
clerk  from  Madras,  who  afterwards  became  Lord  Clive,  the 
man  who  established  British  supremacy  throughout  India. 

Clive  seems  to  have  had  the  faculty  possessed  by  Napo- 
leon and  Alexander,  of  inspiring  unbounded  confidence  in 
those  under  his  command.  Even  the  native  troops  acknowl- 
edged this  mighty  supremacy,  and  were  ready  to  lay  down 
their  lives  to  obey  his  slightest  behest.  When  besieged  and 
sorely  pressed  by  the  French,  and  when  famine  stared  them 
in  the  face,  the  natives  came  to  him,  inspired  with  his  own 
valor,  and  said,  "Do  not  surrender;  we  will  live  on  the  very 
water  in  which  the  rice  is  cooked,  while  the  English  soldiers 
eat  the  rice,  if  you  will  but  hold  the  fort  against  our  com- 
mon enemy." 


328 


ON   A   SURF-BEATEN   SHORE. 


Such  valor  and  leadership  would  prevail  anywhere.  No 
"wonder  that  by  such  men  as  Clive  and  "Warren  Hastings, 
and  the  great  men  who  have  succeeded  them,  the  English 
government  is  established  so  strongly  throughout  this  mighty 
empire.  The  paramount  importance  of  individual  leadership 
was  never  more  distinctly  shown  than  in  the  history  of  the 
British  occupancy  of  India.     That  one  great  leader  is  worth 


Mi.  ^  !, 


WEAVERS  IN   THE   STREETS  OP   MADRAS. 

a  hundred  thousand  men,  is  a  lesson  that  may  be  read  upon 
every  page  of  India's  history. 

The  place  from  which  most  travelers  in  Southern  India 
embark  for  the  North  is  the  city  of  Madras ;  a  great  metrop- 
olis with  nearly  a  million  of  inhabitants,  situated  on  the 
wind-swept  and  wave-beaten  Coromandel  coast.  Until  re- 
cently there  has  not  been  even  a  breakwater  to  partially 
defend  the  surf-washed  shore.     With  the  greatest  difficulty 


A  DIFFICULT  LANDING  PLACE. 


329 


at  times  vessels  are  loaded  and  unloaded  even  with  the 
breakwater,  which  now  defends  the  artificial  harbor  to  some 
extent.  The  surf  beats  upon  the  shore  most  violently  when 
the  wind  is  in  certain  quarters.  The  travelers  who  are 
about  to  embark  are  still  borne  upon  the  brawny  shoulders 
of  coolies,  and  deposited  in  deep  native  boats,  which  are 
composed  of  planks  bound  together  with  thongs  and  caulked 
with  cocoanut  fibre,  in  which  no  nails  or  rivets  are  used, 


CHILD  ON  A  LEAF  OF  THE  VICTORIA  REGIA. 

since  they  would  soon  be  wrenched  out  of  their  places  by 
the  buffetings  of  the  heavv  surf. 

Some  beautiful  government  buildings  there  are  in 
Madras;  the  law  courts  being  especially  fine.  This  build- 
ing, designed  after  the  architecture  of  a  Mahommedan 
mosque,  is  crowded  with  minarets  and  domes  projecting 
from  every  angle.  But  this  splendid  structure,  and  a  few 
others  like  it,  only  emphasizes  and  makes  more  marked  the 
squalor  of  the  native  section.  However,  the  climate  is  not 
severe.  Little  shelter  and  less  energy  are  required  in  order 
to  live ;  the  wants  of  the  people  are  few,  and  perhaps  they 


330 


LIFE  IN   THE   STREETS   OF   MADRAS. 


are  as  happy  as  their  more  favored  companions  in  other 
cities  and  climes. 

Here  in  the  tanks  and  reservoirs  are  found  not  only  the 
sacred  lotus  flowers  with  their  broad  leaves,  but  the  Vic- 
toria Kegia,  many  of  which  are  quite  strong  and  large 
enough  to  hold  a  child  three  to  four  years  of  age.  A  little 
brown-faced  baby,  when  weighed,  tipped  the  scales  at  just 
twenty-eight  and  a  half  pounds,  and  the  leaf  upon  which  he 
sat  hardly  shipped  a  cupful  of  water  under  his  weight. 


THE   POPULAR  AIADRAS   HUNT. 


In  the  streets  of  Madras  as  in  all  these  Eastern  cities 
may  be  seen  every  possible  occupation  going  on  before  the 
face  and  ej^es  of  the  world.  Here  are  the  weavers  and  the 
carpenters  and  the  shoemakers  and  the  barbers,  and  every- 
where the  inevitable  throng  of  loafers. 

It  is  not  at  all  uncommon  to  see  a  row  of  old  men  and 
women,  and  younger  ones,  too,  for  that  matter,  sitting  in 
the  glaring  sunlight  engaged  in  "the  Madras  hunt,"  where 
the  unhappy  hunting  grounds  are  each  other's  heads. 

One  day  a  wedding  procession  passed  by.     Three  silent- 


f 


''bratty'   makers  and  "punkah-wallahs 


rt     " 


333 


treading,  knock-kneed,  ragged  camels  led  the  way,  covered 
with  bright  cloths  and  much  tinsel.  There  seemed  to  be 
little  merriment  or  life  about  the  procession,  and  I  presume 
the  poor  young  girl  who  was  going  to  the  home  of  her  aged 
husband,  whom  perhaps  she  had  never  seen,  felt  as  melan- 
choly as  the  solemn  procession  seemed  to  indicate. 

The  extreme  pov- 
erty of  the  people  is 
perhaps  nowhere  more 
indicated  than  by  the 
women  whose  business 
it  is  to  pick  up  every  | 
particle  of  manure  from 
the  streets,  and  to  make 
it  into  flat  cakes  (''  Brat- 
ty"  as  it  is  called), 
which  they  dry  upon 
the  sides  of  the  walls 
of  the  houses.  Then  it 
is  picked  off  and  sold 
for  fuel.  Hundreds  of 
these  women  with  high- 
piled  baskets  of  this 
fuel  are  met  with  every- 
where as  one  goes  about 
the  streets. 

The  "  punkah- wallah,"  too,  or  the  man  who  pulls  the 
huge  fans  with  which  every  office,  dining-room,  parlor,  and 
church  is  provided,  is  a  well-known  character  in  Madras,  as 
in  all  Southern  India.  I  must  say  I  have  seen  days  in  ISTew 
York  and  Boston  when  a  punkah  was  as  necessary  as  it 
even  is  in  hot  Madras.  This  occupation  often  descends  from 
father  to  son,  for  many  generations,  and  the  true  j)unkah- 


BRATTY       MAKING. 


334  EXTREMES   OF   SOCIAL  LIFE. 

I 

wallali  by  instinct  and  training  becomes  so  expert  that, 
tying  the  string  to  his  toe,  he  will  go  to  sleep  and  still  keep 
jerking  away  at  the  cord  to  fan  the  hot  brows  of  the  Euro- 
peans within,  who  may  be  dining,  or  reading,  or  writing,  or 
sleeping,  as  the  case  may  be. 

In  the  streets  of  Madras  I  have  frequently  seen  the 
women  and  dogs  lying  together  in  the  glaring  bright  sun- 
light, one  apparently  as  happy  and  as  unconscious  of  degra- 
dation as  the  other. 

On  the  other  hand,  many  among  these  people  are  well 
educated,  and  bright  and  intellectual.  The  magnificent  law 
courts  are  crowded  with  native  lawyers,  who  are  as  fine 
a  body  of  men  in  their  gowns  and  wigs  as  can.  be  met  with 
in  any  hall  of  justice  in  the  world. 

Nowhere  does  one  meet  with  greater  extremes  of  social 
life.  ]^owhere  is  there  greater  need  or  greater  scope  for  the 
life-giving  religion  of  Christ  than  in  this  swarming  city  of 
India.  Here,  in  Madras,  I  am  glad  to  say  there  is  much 
missionary  activity.  In  some  parts  of  the  Presidency  the 
Telugu  people  are  flocking  to  the  standard  of  the  Cross 
by  tens  of  thousands,  and  it  seems  to  be  only  a  question 
of  time  when  the  walls  of  caste  prejudice  shall  be  broken 
down  and  when  the  empire  of  India  shall  take  its  place 
among  the  great  Christian  empires  of  the  world. 


.  CHAPTER   XYIII. 

PEN  PICTURES  FROM  NORTHERN  INDIA. 

The  Mouth  of  the  Hoogly  —  A  Precaution  —  From  the  Parisian  to  the 
Pariah  —  The  Great  Banyan  of  the  Geographies  —  Ten  Thousand 
Troops  under  its  Shade  —  The  Burning  Ghat  —  A  Sidewalk  Barber's 
Shop  —  A  Ghastly  Group  —  Innumerable  Beggars  —  Religious  Parasites 

—  The  Old  Fakir's  Offering  —  The  Bathers  in  the  Ganges  —  A  Devoted 
Son  —  Dying  at  her  Leisure  —  A  Burning  Ghat  —  Decorations  after  tlie 
Bath  —  Burning  the  Dead  —  Hindu  Theology  —  Towers  of  Silence  — 
Dreary  Biers  and  Hungry  Vultures  —  A  Cannibal  Feast — The  Jews  of 
India  —  Why  They  Give  their  Bodies  to  the  Vultures  —  The  Bondage  of 
Caste  —  Paying  Dear  for  his  Dinners — A  Venerable  Bridegroom  — 
Match  Makers  in  India — The  Stars  Favorable  and  Marriages  Frequent 

—  A  Wedding  Procession  —  A  Pathetic  Mite  of  a  Bride  — A  Matter-of- 
fact  Wooer. 


ROM  Madras  to  Calcutta  the  voy- 
age is  comparatively  uninteresting' 
until  one  draws  near  to  the  great 
political  Capital  of  India.  As  we 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Hoogly 
river,  one  of  the  great  Deltas  of  the 
Ganges,  which  pours  its  muddy 
waters  into  the  Bay  of  Bengal,  for 
many  miles  the  eye  can  follow  the 
distinct  line  of  demarkation  be- 
tween the  fresh  water  of  the  sacred 
river  and  the  salt  water  of  the  bay. 
After  a  little  the  low  line  of  palm  trees  on  one  side 
shows  that  we  have  entered  the  vast  and  capacious  mouth  of 
the  Hoogly,  which  of  all  rivers  is  most  difficult  of  navigation 

on  account  of  its  shifting  sands  and  its  treacherous  shoals. 

(335) 


336  THE   MOTLEY    POPULATION   OF   CALCUTTA. 

While  the  passengers  were  at  "tiffin"  the  stewards  closed 
all  the  ports  of  the  vessel,  and  when  we  asked  the  reason  for 
this  summary  shutting  off  of  our  supply  of  fresh  air,  the 
captain  informed  us  that  we  would  have  a  better  chance  of 
escape  if  the  vessel  should  strike  a  sandbank  and  keel  over,  as 
more  than  one  vessel  had  been  known  to  do. 

A  distressing  disaster  of  this  kind  occurred  not  many 
months  since  when  all  the  passengers  were  below,  either 
in  their  cabins  or  the  public  saloon,  and  many  of  them  were 
drowned  like  rats  in  their  holes. 

However,  a  good  Providence  favored  us,  no  accident  or 
delay  occurred,  and,  on  the  morning  of  the  3d  day  after 
leaving  Madras,  the  "  Chusan "  steamed  up  to  her  dock  in 
the  busy  port  of  Calcutta. 

This  city  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  in  all  the  East, 
interesting  not  solely  or  chiefly  on  account  of  its  splendid 
government  buildings  or  fine  warehouses  or  expensive  docks, 
but  more  especially  to  the  traveler  because  of  its  conglomerate 
population  of  every  shade  and  color,  every  nationality  and 
costume  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  from  the  Parisian-clad 
European  to  the  Pariah  in  all  his  squalid  nakedness. 

In  some  particulars  the  zoological  gardens  in  Calcutta  are 
quite  beyond  any  of  their  European  rivals ;  the  collection  of 
parrots,  for  instance,  is  surprisingly  large,  their  plumage 
most  gaudy ;  and  the  pigeons,  some  of  them  as  large  as 
Guinea  hens,  with  tufted  crests  and  fan-like  topknots,  were 
the  most  unique  I  have  ever  seen. 

The  botanical  gardens  are  even  larger  and  finer  than  the 
zoological.  The  most  interesting  feature  here  is  the  great 
banyan,  which  is  said  to  be  the  model  from  which  the 
banyan  of  the  old  geographies  was  drawn.  It  is  stated  that 
10,000  Jtroops  can  be  mustered  under  the  shade  of  this  tree. 
How  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  school  boys  and  school 


THE   BANYAN   OF  OUR   SCHOOL   DAYS.  337 

girls  have  in  imagination  gathered  beneath  its  umbrageous 
shade  it  would  be  impossible  to  reckon. 

But  here  it  stands  just  as  it  looked  in  the  geography  of 
our  school  days,  with  its  drooping  pendants,  which,  after  a 
time,  take  root  and  develop  into  huge  trunks,  only  to  send 
out  other  pendants,  which,  in  turn,  develop  into  other  trunks, 
and  so  on,  ad  infinitum,.  There  seems  to  be  no  limit  to  the 
growth  of  a  well-developed  and  carefully  cultured  banyan 
tree.  Theoretically,  at  least,  it  might  cover  a  province  or  a 
nation,  or  grow  indefinitely  until  it  reached  a  climate  or  a 
soil  in  which  it  could  no  longer  flourish. 

The  "  burning  ghat "  is  another  famous  place  in  the  en- 
virons of  Calcutta.  This  is  a  huge,  one-storied,  shed-like 
building,  in  which  the  bodies  of  deceased  Hindus  are 
burned.  As  this  particular  "  ghat "  is  situated  on  the  banks 
of  the  sacred  Ganges  it  is  a  very  famous  one,  and  the  fires 
within  are  perpetually  kept  burning. 

Let  us  take  a  drive  there  this  bright  February  morning. 
Our  little  party  will  just  fill  a  gharri,  one  of  the  character- 
istic vehicles  of  this  Eastern  land.  We  will  put  up  the 
blinds  on  every  side  so  that  we  can  look  out  in  every  direc- 
tion, and  miss  none  of  the  sights  and  bits  of  scenery  which 
are  sure  to  greet  our  eyes. 

The  sun  has  just  risen,  for  the  early  morning  is  the  best 
time  to  visit  the  ghat.  The  poorer  part  of  the  native  popula- 
tion is  shaking  itself  awake  after  the  slumbers  of  the  night. 
It  does  not  take  the  poor  people  of  Calcutta  long  to  make 
their  toilets.  Their  mats  are  spread  in  little  recesses  from 
the  sidewalks  which  they  call  their  homes,  and  all  that  is 
necessary  for  them  to  do  in  the  morning,  is  to  straighten  up 
from  their  recumbent  position,  roll  up  their  mats,  wash 
their  faces  at  the  nearest  fountain  or  public  faucet,  or,  in 
default  of  one  of  these,  at  the  nearest  pool  of  stagnant  water 


338 


ON  THE  WAY  TO  THE  BURNING  GHAT. 


or  mud  puddle.  They  seemed  to  take  great  pains  with  their 
teeth,  and  we  see  scores  of  them  this  early  morning  brushing 
and  washing  their  mouths  most  assiduously ;  the  bright, 
brass  water  jars  near  by  holding  the  little  water  that  is  nec- 
essary for  this  internal  ablution. 

Even  at  this  early  morning  hour,  Calcutta's  sw^arming 
myriads  are  beginning  their  daily  toil.  Shop  doors  are 
opening,  early  birds  are  looking  for  the  unwary  worms,  and 
the  bustle  and  hum  of  life  begins.     Here,  for  instance,  quite 


A   CALCUTTA    BARBER   SHOP. 


on  the  sidewalk,  a  Hindu  barber,  in  white  cloth  and  turban, 
is  sitting  on  his  haunches,  assiduously  scraping  off  the  hirsute 
growth  of  another  Hindu  who,  during  the  operation,  gazes 
on  his  own  homely  face  in  a  glass  which  he  himself  holds. 
Could  a  more  uncomfortable  barber's  chair  be  imagined  ? 

As  we  draw  near  to  the  sacred  Ganges,  the  crowd  of  pil- 
grims that  is  also  wending  its  way  thither  grows  larger, 
more  cosmopolitan  and  more  interesting.  Here  are  Hindus 
from  every  part  of  India  and  of  every  conceivable  caste. 
Here  are  fakirs  whose  holiness  and  sanctity  are  measured  by 


A  PARADISE   OF  TRAMPS  AND    MENDICANTS. 


339 


the  length  of  their  hair,  and  apparently,  by  the  thickness  of 
the  coat  of  dirt  upon  their  yile  bodies ;  and  here  also  are 
many  common  people  representing  all  classes  and  conditions 
of  Hindus.  In  one  place  beside  the  road  is  a  curious  group 
gathered  around  a  pile  of  sacred  ashes.  They  look  pecu- 
liarly ghastly  in  the  bright  sunlight  of  the  early  morning,  for 
they  haye  anointed  themselyes 
with  oil  from  top  to  toe,  and 
haye  then  besmeared  themselyes 
with  the  ashes.  A  singularly 
gray  and  grizzly  look  is  giyen  to 
them  by  this  operation.  Still 
others  haye  gone  down  to  the 
waters  of  the  sacred  stream 
which  flows  near  by,  and  haye 
coyered  themselyes  oyer,  from 
the  crowns  of  their  heads  to 
the  soles  of  their  feet,  with  the 
slime  and  mud  from  the  riyer's 
banks.  By  the  side  of  the  road 
are  numberless  beggars  with 
little  piles  of  rice  before  them. 
This  has  been  giyen  them  by  - 
the  deyotees  who  haye  just 
bathed  in  the  Ganges,  for  it  is 
considered  a  peculiarly  meritorious  act  to  giye  something  in 
charity  after  the  morning  bath  in  the  holy  waters.  Of 
course  beggars  take  adyantage  of  such  generosity,  and  swarm 
in  almost  innumerable  throngs  to  this  spot,  which  may  be 
considered  the  yery  paradise  of  tramps  and  mendicants. 

It  also  goes  without  saying  that  the  superstition  of  the 
people  is  taken  full  adyantage  of  by  the  religious  parasites 
who  liye  on  the  fears  of  the  iornorant. 


A  HINDU   FAKIR. 


340 


HOW   TO   OFFER   A   GIFT   TO   THE   GANGES. 


Hero  is  an  old  fakir  with  long,  ropy  hair  and  a  thick 
crust  of  dirt  on  legs  and  arms,  and  hairy  breast,  who  has  a 
little  shrine  in  which  are  three  brass  gods.  We  try  to  buy 
one  of  the  gods  to  take  home  to  our  friends  as  a  sample  of 
what  is  actually  worshiped  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  but 
the  wily  old  fellow  tells  us  that  these  gods  have  been  conse- 
crated and  that  they  are  not  for  sale, 
but  that  if  we  will  go  to  the  bazaar 
we  can  get  images  just  like  them  for 
a  few  annas  apiece.  He  further 
intimates  that  if  we  wish  to  make 
an  offering  to  the  gods,  he  will  not 
object. 

"  But  what  would  you  do  with  a 
rupee,  if  we  should  give  it  to  you  ?  " 
we  asked.  "Why,  I  would  make 
an  offering  of  it  to  the  Ganges,"  he 
replied.  "But  you  do  not  mean 
that  you  would  throw  good  silver 
into  that  muddy  river?  "ISTo,"  he 
replied,  "I  would  buy  rice  with  it 
and  eat  the  rice,  but  I  would  throw 
some  grains  of  it  in  the  river  and 
thus  dedicate  your  rupee."  Perhaps 
the  man's  honesty  demanded  a  re- 
ward, but  it  was  very  evident,  even  if  he  had  not  told  us  so, 
that  the  offering  to  the  Ganges  would  be  made  in  a  meta- 
phorical and  Pickwickian  sense. 

Beside  this  old  fakir  was  a  poor  fellow  who  was  born 
without  arms  ;  next  to  him,  a  man  with  his  legs  cut  off  above 
the  knees  ;  a  woman  came  next  with  a  puny,  shivering,  sickly 
baby  in  her  arms  ;  all  appealing  to  the  generosity  and  com- 
passion of  the  devotees,  who,  as  they  passed  by,  were  very 


A  LONG  HAIRED  FAKIR. 


BATHING   IN  THE   SACRED   STREAM.  341 

likely  to  throw  them  a  quarter  of  an  anna  piece  or  at  least  a 

handful  of  rice. 

As  we  look  toward  the  river,  we  see  it  thronged  with 

bathers,  men  and  women  alike,  in  scant  bathing  clothes, 
dipping  and  splashing  and  sousing  the  sacred  water  over 
their  bodies  with  great  abandon.  After  a  few  moments  in 
the  water  they  come  up  to  the  bank  to  dry  themselves  in 
the  sun,  and  put  on  dry  clothes,  a  very  easy  process  of  dress- 
ing, where  the  onh^-  garment  consists  of  a  single  strip  of 
cloth,  while  some  of  the  poorer  ones  walk  off  to  their  homes, 
dripping  and  shivering  ^^ith  their  wet  wrappings  clinging  to 
their  limbs. 

One  old  woman  whom  we  saw  thus  journeying  home- 
ward, her  dripping  cloth  marking  every  footstep,  shivered  in 
the  cold  morning  air  as  though  stricken  with  palsy.  Poor 
old  devotee!  I  fear  that  she  will  not  stand  many  such 
baths  even  in  the  sacred  Ganges,  for,  as  she  trudges  off  to 
her  home  in  her  dripping  garments,  her  consumptive  cough 
and  emaciated  body  tell  us  that  she  is  near  her  end.  Perhaps 
the  next  time  she  comes  she  will  be  brouo;ht  bv  her  children 
to  breathe  her  last  gasp  on  the  holy  bank,  for  it  is  thought 
to  be  a  very  meritorious  thing  to  die  on  these  sacred  shores. 

Just  before  the  breath  is  thought  to  be  about  to  leave  the 
body,  dying  Hindus  are  often  brought  hither.  Sometimes, 
however,  there  is  miscalculation,  and  the  person  is  not  so 
near  his  end  as  is  supposed.  In  such  circumstances  it  is 
said,  though  I  cannot  vouch  for  the  truth  of  the  story,  that 
the  mouth  of  the  dying  person  is  filled  with  sacred  mud,  and 
the  end  is  thus  hastened ;  for  it  is  not  within  the  bounds  of 
custom  (and  custom  here  is  as  the  laws  of  the  Medes  and 
Persians)  for  a  person  who  has  once  been  brought  to  the 
banks  of  the  Ganges  to  be  taken  home  again,  however  long 
he  may  obstinately  persist  in  livin^. 

21 


342  DECORATING  AFTER  THE  BATH. 

One  devoted  son  of  whom  I  have  heard,  has  built  a  little 
house  for  his  mother,  whom  some  years  ago  he  brought  to 
the  river's  bank  on  the  supposition  that  she  was  about  to 
give  up  the  ghost.  She  did  not  die,  however,  as  was  ex- 
pected, but  persisted  in  getting  better ;  so  there  was  nothing 
for  this  filial  son  to  do,  as  she  could  not  be  taken  back  to  her 
house  again,  but  to  build  a  little  house  for  her  on  the  banks 
of  the  river,  where  she  might  wait  her  end  and  die  at  her 
leisure. 

At  one  place  which  we  pass,  a  wealthy  Hindu,  as  an  act 
of  religious  merit,  has  built  a  "  bathing  ghat."  As  we  look 
into  this  ghat  or  bath  house,  which  is  open  to  all  sight-seers, 
as  well  as  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven,  being  simply  a 
covered  shed  with  a  tessellated  stone  pavement,  we  see  the 
pilgrims  who  have  just  bathed  in  the  river  receiving  their 
morning  shampoo. 

Men  who  understand  the  business  are  rubbing  and  knead- 
ing the  bathers  most  assiduously,  after  which  they  are 
anointed  Avith  oil,  their  eyebrows  and  finger  nails  are 
stained  with  the  proper  pigment,  and  sacred  ashes  in  red  and 
white  and  yellow  are  mixed  with  oil  and  rubbed  upon  their 
foreheads  in  a  most  artistic  way,  in  lines  and  circles  and 
little  spots,  which  often  have  the  effect  of  a  coarse  kind  of 
tattoo. 

But  all  this  time  we  have  been  drawing  near  the  "  house 
of  burning,"  though  our  progress  has  been  slow  on  account 
of  the  number  of  interesting  sights  on  every  hand  which 
claim  our  attention. 

Here  is  the  famous  ghat  at  last.  After  being  conducted 
through  one  or  two  small  ante-rooms  we  come  to  a  large, 
shed-like  building  which  opens  upon  the  Ganges  on  one  side, 
while  the  side  next  to  the  public  road  is  entirely  closed  to 
view.     There  is   no  roof  to  intercept  the   passage   of  the 


THE  BURNING   GHAT. 


343 


smoke  from  the  burning  bodies  to  the  stars.  In  the  soil 
around  which  the  walls  of  the  enclosure  are  built  are  eigh- 
teen hollow  places  about  six  feet  long  and  two  feet  wide. 
Here  the  bodies  are  laid  i  wood  and  straw  is  piled  around, 
over  and  under  them;  the  nearest  relative  lights  the  fire; 
the  poor,  human  clay,  deserted  of  its  spiritual  tenant,  is 
wrapt  in  flames,  and  in  about  two  hours  nothing  is  left  but 


THE   BURNING  GHAT. 


a  little  pile  of  ashes,  which  is  carefully  swept  up  and  thrown 
into  the  sacred  waters  which  flow  near  by. 

Poor  people  who  cannot  afford  to  burn  their  relatives 
light  a  little  wisp  of  straw,  blacken  their  faces  with  it,  and 
throw  the  bodies  unceremoniously  into  the  Ganges.  For- 
merly it  was  said  that  travelers  up  the  river  met  many  of 
these  deserted  human  tenements  floating  down  the  stream. 
Now,  I  think,  the  practice  is  forbidden  by  law,  and  the 
sight  of  floating  bodies  is  uncommon,  but  by  no  means 
unknown. 


344  PAYING   FOR   THE   REPOSE   OF   THE   DEPARTED. 

On  the  day  of  our  visit  to  the  burning  ghat  there  was 
but  one  body  undergoing  cremation,  and  that  the  body  of  a 
little  child.  The  morning  before,  however,  the  attendant 
told  us  that  no  less  than  eleven  of  the  eighteen  ghastly  fire- 
places were  filled  with  burning  bodies  at  one  time,  and  an 
average  of  twenty  each  day  are  brought  to  this  particular 
ghat  for  cremation. 

Hindu  theology  says  that  after  the  body  has  been  burned, 
the  parts  all  are  joined  once  more  and  must  march  through 
a  river  of  mire  and  blood,  but  if  the  friends  of  the  dead  man 
will  give  the  Brahmin  a  cow,  his  journey  will  be  much 
easier ;  this  is  certainly  a  very  convenient  doctrine  for  the 
Brahmin  priest  to  promulgate. 

After  the  dead  man  gets  beyond  this  unpleasant  spot  he 
must  walk  over  ground  like  fiery  hot  copper,  and  if  a  pair  of 
shoes  is  donated  to  the  priest  it  would  be  more  pleasant  for 
the  departed  spirit.  J^ext  the  spirit  comes  to  a  road  full  of 
spikes,  and  if  the  friends  will  only  give  the  Brahmin  a  bed- 
spread, the  spirit  need  not  lie  upon  the  spikes.  By  this  time 
the  priest  is  pretty  well  fitted  out,  and  the  departed  spirit  is 
allowed  to  get  along  as  best  it  can.  Thus  do  these  mercen- 
ary religionists  prey  upon  the  fears  and  superstitions  of  their 
ignorant  followers.  AVhat  a  contrast  this  to  the  unselfish 
invitation,  "  Come  unto  Me  and  I  will  give  you  rest." 

If,  now,  in  imagination,  we  pass  over  the  1,500  miles  of 
mountain  and  valley  and  spreading  plain  that  stretch  be- 
tween Calcutta  and  the  commercial  capital  of  India, 
Bombay,  we  shall  find  still  another  very  peculiar  process  of 
disposing  of  the  dead,  for  in  Bombay  are  80,000  Parsees, 
who  neither  bury  nor  burn,  but  expose  their  dead  on  towers 
built  on  hill  tops,  called  "  Towers  of  Silence."  The  Towers 
of  Silence  in  Bombay  number  five,  and  are  situated  in  the 
midst  of  a  beautiful  garden.     It  is  a  most  impressive  and 


THE  TOWERS   OF   SILENCE. 


345 


solemn  place,  and,  though  exceedingly  revolting  in  some  of 
its  particulars  to  the  Western  mind,  is  nevertheless  a  place 
of  intense  interest. 

After  death  the  bodv  of  the  Parsee  is  taken  to  the  lowest 
floor  of  the  house  in  which  the  dead  person  was  born.  There 
the  priests  pray  for  the  soul  that  has  left  the  body,  and  a 
dog  is  brought  in  to  look  at  the  corpse.  Afterwards  it  is 
wrapped  in  a  sheet,  laid  on  an  iron  bier,  and  carried  to  one 
of  the  Towers  of  Silence.  The  friends  follow  on  foot,  as  no 
carriages  are  allowed  at  a  Parsee  funeral.     The  mourners 


W^ 


«ii;[i'lfiiijvfWiL!|l:i^'II«I 


.^."•v^ 
'k 


A   TOWER  OF   SILENCE. 


are  all  dressed  in  white  and  walk  in  pairs,  each  pair  holding 
a  white  handkerchief  between  them. 

The  largest  tower  of  silence  in  Bombay  is  a  round  build- 
ing, in  which  are  72  spaces  for  the  bodies  of  men  next  to  the 
wall,  just  below  the  spaces  for  the  men  are  72  more  small 
places  for  the  bodies  of  women,  and,  below  them,  72  still 
smaller  grooves  for  the  bodies  of  children.  Between  the 
spaces  for  the  men,  women,  and  children,  are  little  footpaths. 
On  these  dreary  biers  are  laid  the  dead  bodies  of  the  de- 
parted, and,  before  the  attendant  Parsees  have  left  the 
silent  tower,  the  hungry  vultures,  which  are  always  sitting 


346  THE  FEAST  OF  THE  VULTURES. 

like  horrid  Harpies  on  the  edge  of  the  tower,  swoop  down 
and  tear  the  flesh  from  the  bones  and  fly  back  to  their  filthy- 
perches.  Tlius  the}^  dispute  for  the  last  morsel  of  the  dead 
body  until  only  the  bleachine-  bones  remain.  After  the 
skeleton  of  the  dead  man  has  been  left  for  some  three  or 
four  weeks  on  the  tower,  the  bones  are  thrown  into  a  well 
in  the  middle  of  the  tower,  where  they  decompose  after  a 
while  into  lime,  and  are  washed  out  by  the  descending  rains, 
and  are  thus  finally  disposed  of.  There  is  something  pecu- 
liarly disgusting  to  man}^  minds  about  such  a  disposal  of  the 
dead,  but,  from  a  sanitary  point  of  view,  the  physicians  say 
that  it  is  not  by  any  means  the  worst  of  methods. 

On  the  day  of  our  visit  fully  one  hundred  of  the  thou- 
sand vultures  which  are  said  to  haunt  the  towers  of  silence 
w^ere  sitting  in  a  dreadfully  suggestive  way  on  the  edge  of 
their  stone  parapets,  Avaiting  for  the  horrible  feast  which 
would  be  spread  for  them  before  the  day  was  over. 

There  are  many  things  of  living,  healthful  interest  in  this 
great  city  of  Bombay.  The  streets  are  wide  in  some  por- 
tions of  the  city,  and  lined  with  really  magnificent  build- 
ings. As  one  drives  along  the  street  he  sees  not  only 
Hindus  of  every  caste  and  condition  of  life,  but  Parsees  with 
their  curious  glazed  caps,  Jains  with  their  two-cornered 
turbans,  and  Arabians  in  voluminous  garments  with  coils  of 
camel's  hair  around  their  heads. 

Brilliant  colors,  too,  abound  everywhere, — red,  and 
green,  and  blue;  while  the  higher  class  women  in  their 
graceful,  transparent,  silken  robes,  interwoven  with  delicate 
figures  in  subdued  colors,  add  a  very  picturesque  element  to 
the  crowded  streets. 

The  Mohammedans  are  of  course  very  numerous.  It  is 
said  that  there  are  more  Mohammedans  in  Bombay  than  in 
any  other  city  in  the  world. 


A  POLYGLOT   POPULATION.  '         347 

Of  all  this  polyglot  population,  the  Parsees  are  the 
most  interestino^.  Many  of  them  are  well-to-do  and  some 
of  them  are  very  wealthy.  Their  cast  of  countenance  is 
decidedly  Jewish,  and  their  long  aquiline  noses  and  shrewd 
business  features  ^ould  not  look  out  of  place  in  the  Jewish 
quarters  of  Amsterdam  or  Frankfort.  Their  great  teacher 
was  Zoroaster,  who  lived  1,200  years  before  Christ,  and  their 
religion  has  few  of  the  revolting,  idolatrous  elements  which 
characterize  the  mass  of  heathen  religions. 

They  are  sometimes  called  fire- worshipers,  which  is  not, 
however,  a  correct  designation.  In  worshiping  God  they 
sav  one  ought  to  look  at  some  of  the  wonderful  things  that 
He  has  made,  such  as  the  sun,  the  moon,  the  water,  or  fire, 
not  that  these  elements  are  gods  but  in  them  they  see  God 
revealed. 

This  idea  lies  at  the  root  of  their  burial  practices.  They 
cannot  put  the  bodies  in  the  ground  according  to  their 
notions,  or  else  the  earth  would  be  defiled.  They  cannot 
burn  them,  for  fire  is  a  sacred  element.  They  cannot  throw 
them  into  the  river,  for  the  water  would  be  desecrated,  but 
the  vultures,  being  unclean  birds,  can  dispose  of  the  dead 
bodies  without  defiling  land  or  water,  fire  or  earth. 

If  one  walks  in  the  beautiful  Yictoria  Gardens  towards 
sundown,  he  will  see  the  greatest  variety  of  Eastern  f>eoples 
to  be  found  on  any  spot  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  __  Accord- 
ing to  the  latest  census,  in  Bombay  alone,  sixty -one  different 
languages  are  spoken,  and  the  castes  are  almost  innumer- 
able. The  distinctions  of  caste  are  giving  way  to  some 
extent  in  Bombay  as  in  other  parts  of  India,  but  very,  very* 
slowly,  and  among  the  great  masses  of  population  it  is  still 
considered  a  most  disgraceful  and  outrageous  thing  to  lose 
one's  caste. 

A  mother  will  turn  her  child  out  of  doors  if  he  eats  a 


348  THE   RIGORS   OF   CASTE. 

particle  of  food  that  is  prepared  by  a  woman  of  lower  caste. 
A  woman  will  desert  her  husband  whom  she  suspects,  not  of 
marital  unfaitlifulness,  but  of  having  dined  with  some  one 
of  lower  rank  than  himself.  Even  the  cooks  in  the  kitchen 
will  shake  the  dust  from  off  their  feet  and  indimantlv  leave 
the  service  of  him  who  has  in  any  way  broken  his  caste  and 
defiled  himself  by  forgetting  the  strict  ceremonial  observ- 
ance which  the  bondage  of  the  ages  has  imposed. 

Here  is  a  paragraph  which  I  have  just  clipped  from  an 
Allahabad  paper.  "  In  order  to  be  allowed  the  privileges  of 
the  caste  to  which  he  belongs,  a  young  Bengalee  barrister, 
who  had  just  returned  from  England,  performed  the  other 
day  an  exceedingly  unpleasant  PrayaschUta  ceremon}'',  in 
the  presence  of  pundits  and  many  Hindu  gentlemen.  It  is  a 
distinctive  feature  of  the  Hindus  of  the  present  day  that 
they  are  not  reluctant  to  re-admit  into  their  fold  those 
whom  the}^  regard  as  social  sinners  of  the  blackest  dye. 
But  how  that  barrister's  English  friends  would  have  stared, 
if,  while  he  was  eating  his  dinners  in  London,  he  had  told 
them  what  he  would  have  to  eat  on  his  return  home." 

What  this  ceremony  of  regaining  caste  is,  is  not  to  be 
explained  here.  It  would  not  be  possible  to  enter  into 
details  for  they  are  not  for  ears  polite,  and  we  will  only  say 
that  this  young  barrister  had  to  eat  the  vilest  compound 
which  can  be  possibly  imagined,  to  pay  for  the  gay  dinners 
of  which  he  had  partaken  in  the  land  across  the  sea. 

Here  is  another  paragraph  from  one  of  these  progressive 
papers,  which  shows  the  impatience  of  modern  Hindu  life 
with  the  ceremonial  shackles  of  the  past :  "  He  is  aged  82 
and  he  is  to  marry  a  girl  of  the  same  sect,  aged  10.  They 
are  both  Madhwas,  and  the  holy  rite  of  matrimony  will  be 
performed  at  Madras ;  yet  people  say  we  live  in  a  progress- 
ive age ! " 


MATCH-MAKING  AS   A  PROFESSION. 


349 


Though  the  bridegroom  is  not  often  so  old  as  the  vener- 
able party  here  alluded  to,  the  bride  is  often  quite  as  young, 
and  frequently  much  younger  than  the  ten-year-old  girl  who 
was  sold  into  matrimonial  slavery  at  Madras.  The  usual 
age  for  a  man  to  marry  is  sixteen  or  seventeen,  the  frequent 
age  for   a  girl,   eight   or   nine.     Kot   uncommonly   she   is 


'^a^^ 


t'^/^^ .'JV'    ^hV' 

"■'       '    '  '^ ,  f/     W^    '    '"' 


A  HTNDU   BRIDE 


married  when  three  or  four  years  of  age,  though  she  does 
not  go  to  live  at  once  in  her  husband's  house. 

The  business  of  the  match-makers  in  India  is  not  a  secret 
and  clandestine  affair  as  in  America,  nor  are  match-makers 
looked  upon  as  meddlers  with  other  people's  business,  but  it 
is  an  open,  honorable,  and  avowed  occupation. 

These  match-makers  spend  their  time  in  going  about 
arranging  for  marriages.  When  they  have  found  a  boy  and 
a  girl  that  they  think  will  make  a  good  couple,  they  go  to 


350  A   WEDDING   PROCESSION. 

the  parents  and  talk  the  matter  over,  praising  up  the  little 
girl  to  the  parents  of  the  boy,  and  lauding  the  beauty  and 
the  wealth  and  the  good  disposition  of  the  boy  to  the  girl's 
parents.  Of  course  their  descriptions  are  taken  with  a  grain 
of  salt,  and  the  matchmakers'  glowing  accounts  are  not 
altogether  trusted,  but  they  are  usually  the  intermediaries 
through  whom  the  youthful  pair  are  brought  together. 

"When  We  were  in  Bombay,  the  stars  were  favorable,  and 
the  priests  proclaimed  that  for  many  months  to  come  there 
would  not  be  such  desirable  heavenly  auspices  for  connubial 
bliss.  On  this  account  weddings  were  very  frequent,  and  we 
could  scarcely  go  along  any  of  the  crowded  streets  where 
Hindus  most  do  congregate  without  seeing  one  or  more 
wedding  processions. 

They  were  most  gorgeous  affairs.  First  would  come  a 
brass  band  blaring  with  its  trumpets  and  beating  its  cymbals 
and  drums.  Then  would  come  the  family  friends  of  the  bride 
and  bridegroom  arrayed  in  all  their  finery  of  bright-colored 
silks;  their  arms,  wrists,  noses,  and  ears  bedecked  with 
chains  and  bracelets,  jewels,  and  rings,  large  and  small,  of 
most  elaborate  designs.  Then  frequently  we  would  see  the 
bridegroom  trying  to  look  grave  and  dignified  with  all  the 
burden  of  his  sixteen  years  resting  heavily  upon  his 
shoulders.  Often  he  would  be  decked  and  garlanded  with 
flowers  and  chains  and  jewels  so  that  his  face  was  scarcely 
visible.  Sometimes  a  companion  would  walk  by  his  side 
solemnly  fanning  him. 

The  bridegroom  is  usually  perched  upon  a  high  horse, 
and  if  the  later  stages  of  the  wedding  have  been  reached 
the  little  bride  is  often  seen  behind  her  husband.  Frequently 
she  is  a  tiny,  pathetic  little  mite  indeed.  She  ought  to  be  in 
the  nursery  playing  with  her  dolls,  or  in  the  kindergarten 
learning  her  A  B  C's,  but  instead  of  this  the  responsibilities 


EXPENSIVE   CEREMONIES. 


351 


of  womanhood  have  been  thrust  on  her  in  her  infancy,  and 
she  is  borne  off  to  her  husband's  house  to  live  the  stupid, 
uneventful  life  of  the  zenana. 

The  weddinff  ceremonies  last  manv  davs,  and  are  accom- 
panied  by  great  expense  to  the  father  and  mother  of  the 
bride  at  whose  house  they  take  place.  Oftentimes  the  poor 
man  will  spend  his  last  rupee,  mortgage  his  property,  and  go 
in  debt  for  years  to  come  for  the  sake  of  giving  his  daughter 
a  proper  wedding  feast. 

Though  he  lives  in  rags,  dirt,  and  poverty,  the  little  girl 


A   ZENANA   CARRIAGE  OF  BOMBAY. 


must  for  once  be  decked  in  silks  and  jewels  before  she  is 
carried  off  to  her  husband's  home.  The  missionar}?-  is  fre- 
quently called  upon  to  act  as  matchmaker  between  the 
Christian  boys  and  girls.  One  of  my  friends  was  recently 
asked  by  a  promising  young  man  to  speak  to  a  girl  of  whom 
he  had  heard  good  reports  as  likely  to  make  a  suitable  wife. 
He  had  never  seen  her  but  once  in  his  life,  and  then  at  a 
distance. 

The  missionary  undertook  the  delicate  matter,  but  the 
girl  refused  the  offer  point-blank.  The  ardent  swain,  how- 
ever, was  by  no  means  discouraged,  for  when  my  friend  told 


353 


MAKING   THE  BEST   OF   IT. 


him  of  liis  fortune,  he  remarked  that  he  Avas  glad  to  know 
of  the  matter  without  any  unnecessary  delay,  since  he 
already  had  another  damsel  in  mind  for  the  position,  to 
whom  he  hoped  the  missionary  would  make  his  next  a})plica- 
tion.  No  doubt  final  success  smiled  upon  this  persistent 
though  somewhat  nonchalant  lover. 

These  matchmakers'  marriages  do  not  always  turn  out  as 
unhappily  as  might  be  supposed,  by  any  means.  The  young 
couple,  thus  l^rought  together,  make  the  best  of  their  circum- 
stances and  of  each  other.  The  husband  is  usually  affection- 
ate, and  the  wife,  from  the  very  force  of  circumstances,  faith- 
ful. If  love's  passionate  young  dream  is  not  experienced, 
neither  is  the  frequent  disillusionment  and  reaction  of  mar- 
ried life  in  more  northern  climes,  and  it  is  pleasant  to  believe 
as  we  leave  this  subject  that  behind  the  walls  of  many  of  the 
poor  mud  huts  of  India,  as  everywhere  else  in  this  old  world, 
is  much  conjugal  felicity,  parental  affection,  and  filial 
devotion. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

IN  THE  COUNTRY  OF  THE  GREAT  MUTINY. 

Across  Northern  India  by  Rail  —  In  an  Indian  Sleeping  Car  —  Scenes  from 
our  Car  Window  —  Storks  and  Penguins,  ]\Ionkeys  and  Jackals  —  "It 
is  a  Beautiful  Morning  ;  Come,  Let  Us  Kill  Something  "  —  Defiling  a 
Peddler's  Sweetmeats  —  A  Work  of  Patience  and  Diplomacy  —  An 
Every  Day  Conversation  in  India  —  The  Mecca  of  the  Brahmins  —  The 
Monkey  Temple  —  Cawnpore  of  Bloody  Memory  —  An  Awful  Page  of 
History  —  The  Angel  of  Remembrance  —  Memories  of  Lucknow  — 
The  Gallant  Lawrence  —  Havelock's  Troops  to  the  Rescue  —  The 
Hero's  Grave  —  The  Cannon  Ball  that  Robbed  the  Mother  of  Her  Babe 
—  The  City  of  the  Taj  Mahal  —  The  Mogul's  Promise  and  How  He 
Kept  It — "In  Memory  of  an  Immortal  Love"  —  The  Hand  of  the 
Vandal — "Jane  Higginbottom "  in  the  Taj — How  the  Old  King 
Played  Parchesi. 


|EOM  Calcutta  to  Bombay,  as  the 
cro\Y  flies,  is  not  much  more  than 
a  thousand  miles,  but  by  the  way 
that  most  travelers  journey  it  is 
fully  twice  that  distance,  since  a 
considerable  detour  must  be  made 
to  take  in  the  historic  cities  of 
Benares,  Allahabad,  Lucknow, 
Cawnpore,  and  Agra. 

It  is  a  journey  well  worth  tak- 
ing, I  assure  you,  dear  reader,  for 
it  leaves  upon  tlie  memory  of 
every  traveler  indelible  photographs  of  marvelous  temples 
and  incomparable  mausoleums ;  of  fortresses  and  battle 
grounds,  made  sacred  by  the  blood  of  heroic  men  and 
women;   besides  many  more  peaceful  pictures   of  smiling 

(353) 


354  THE   RAILWAYS  OF  NORTHERN   INDIA. 

fields  and  thronging  villages,  and  gaily  dressed  crowds  of 
jDeople  that  are  constantly  moving  in  a  kaleidoscopic  way 
across  our  picture. 

The  railway  train  in  which  we  set  forth,  like  all  Indian 
railway  trains,  is  divided  into  first,  second,  and  third-class 
compartments,  with  an  intermediate  class  corresponding  to 
the  third-class,  for  European  travelers  only.  The  fares  are 
exceedingly  cheap  except  in  the  first-class  compartments,  and 
even  there  they  are  not  extravagant  according  to  our  West- 
ern notions.  Tickets  in  the  third-class  carriages  cost  less 
than  one-half  cent  a  mile,  in  the  second-class  about  one  cent 
a  mile,  and  in  the  first-class  about  two  cents  for  the  same 
distance.  As  a  result  of  these  fares,  the  third-class  carriages 
are  always  crowded  with  native  travelers ;  the  second-class 
are  sparingly  used  by  Europeans,  and  the  first-class  compart- 
ments are  run  at  a  dead  loss  to  the  railway  company.  You 
need  not  expect  any  remarkably  luxurious  accommodation 
even  in  the  first-class  cars,  as  we  warned  vou  when  writing- 
of  railway  travel  in  Southern  India,  No  deft  porters  make 
up  our  sleeping  berths  for  us ;  no  luxurious  arm  chairs  invite 
rest  and  repose ;  no  nickel-plated  lavatories  and  toilet  rooms 
fitted  up  with  all  kinds  of  Yankee  contrivances  need  Ave 
expect.  If  we  take  our  own  servant,  as  many  travelers  in 
India  do,  he  will  spread  our  blankets  and  quilts,  which  we 
must  carry  with  us,  upon  the  seats  when  night  comes,  and 
arrange  our  pillows  as  comfortably  as  may  be.  He  will 
then  seek  his  own  place  in  a  third-class  carriage  while  we 
betake  ourselves  to  the  Land  of  Xod  as  quickly  as  possible, 
for  the  dull  and  smok}"  lamps  afford  no  inducement  to  sit  up 
to  read  after  the  evening  lamps  of  the  sky  have  been  set 
aglow. 

"While  daylight  lasts,  however,  there  is  j^lenty  to  attract 
us  in  the  varied  scenerv  throuo;h  which  we  are  continuallv 


BEAUTIFUL  AND   FEARLESS   WILD   BIRDS.  355 

passing.  Tillage  succeeds  village,  a  curious  throng  at  one 
station  is  succeeded  by  a  more  curious  throng,  as  it  seems  to 
us,  at  the  next  station,  and  all  is  life  and  bustle  wherever 
the  train  stops. 

Looking  from  the  car  window  one  sees  more  wild  birds 
and  beasts  in  an  hour  when  passing  over  the  plains  of  North- 
ern India  than  he  "would  see  in  twenty -four  hours  in  Amer- 
ica. The  Hindu  regard  for  life  has  caused  birds  and  beasts  to 
multiply  and  abound  everywhere.  Saucy  crows  with  grey 
necks,  and  bright,  bead-like  eyes,  will  almost  pluck  food  out 
of  your  very  hands  as  you  are  eating  your  midday  lunch  ; 
green  parrots  by  the  hundred  will  scream  at  you  ftom  the 
telegraph  wires ;  owls  will  hoot  from  their  undisturbed 
perch  on  the  top  of  the  telegraph  poles ;  beautiful  birds  in 
blue  and  crimson  plumage  will  flutter  about  the  branches 
wherever  a  tree  is  to  be  seen ;  great,  red-headed  storks, 
standing  almost  as  high  as  a  man,  will  unblinkingly  contem- 
plate the  rushing  train  as  they  stand  upon  one  foot  gazing 
after  us ;  solemn  penguins  with  heavy  bills  and  huge  pouches 
beneath,  will  watch  us  from  the  bogs  in  which  they  are  get- 
ting their  noonday  meals  ;  herds  of  spotted  deer  will  scamper 
away  as  the  train  approaches ;  jackals  will  sneak  out  of 
sight,  and  monkeys  will  grin  and  chatter  at  us  from  the 
overhanging  branches ;  while  the  familiar  and  impudent 
blackbirds  and  jackdaws  will  perch  on  the  horns  of  the  goats 
and  cattle  as  we  rush  by  the  pastures,  so  sure  are  they,  after 
centuries  of  protection,  that  they  will  not  be  disturbed. 

What  a  pity  it  is  that  in  America  every  cruel  schoolboy, 
before  he  reaches  the  age  of  mercy  and  humanity,  is  allowed 
to  have  his  rifle  and  shotgun  to  pop  away  at  the  poor,  harm- 
less creatures  which  God  has  made,  driving  them  into  the 
solitary  wilderness  where  alone  they  can  expect  to  rear  their 

young  in  safety  and  peace. 
22 


35G 


AN   EDUCATION  IN   CRUELTY. 


"  It  is  a  beautiful  morning ;  come,  let  us  kill  something,'* 
is  the  sarcastic  P'renchman's  comment  on  the  average 
"  shooting  ■"  Englishman  ;  a  comment  which  will  apply  as 
well  to  the  average  American,  I  am  sorry  to  say.  Some- 
thing besides  game  laws  and  legislative  enactments  are 
necessary  to  preserve  the  sylvan  life  of  our  woods  and  fields. 
Better  is  the  superstitious  dread  of  the  Hindu  in  regard  to 
life-taking  than  the  indifferent  cruelty  of  the  Anglo-Saxon. 

When  we  stop  at  the  stations  and  show  ourselves  on  the 


A   NATIVE        TURN-OUT. 


platform,  a  motley  throng  gathers  about  us.  Here  is  the 
fruit  vendor  with  his  yellow  bananas,  his  loose-jacket 
oranges,  his  guavas  which  require  a  considerable  course  of 
education  before  one  can  enjoy  them.  Our  taste  is  educated 
up  to  bananas  and  oranges  and  we  can  buy  as  many  as 
we  please  for  a  quarter  of  an  anna,  or  about  half  a  cent 
apiece. 

Here  comes  some  other  railway  vendors,  with  trays  full 
of  cakes  and  sweets  of  a  very  doubtful  and  curious  character 
to  our  unaccustomed  eyes. 


AN   UNFLATTERING   ESTIMATE.  357 

The  peddler  sets  them  down  from  his  head,  where  he 
always  carries  them,  as  every  other  bundle  is  carried  in 
India,  and  we  are  about  to  take  one  of  them  from  his  tray 
to  see  what  it  is,  when  with  a  gesture  of  horror,  he  prevents 
us  from  doing  so,  and  insists  upon  our  pointing  to  what  we 
want  from  a  respectful  distance.  We  soon  learn  that  we 
should  defile  all  his  tray-full  of  goods  by  so  much  as  touch- 
ing one  of  his  sweetmeats  with  our  little  finger,  so  polluted 
are  we  in  his  Hindu  eyes;  and  yet  the  same  peddler  is 
doubtless  a  sweaty,  dirty,  ragged,  and  generally  disreputable 
fellow,  who,  from  his  appearance,  lias  not  had  a  decent  bath 
for  a  year. 

It  raises  our  Yankee  ire  somewhat  to  be  regarded  as 
an  unclean  pariah  by  this  dirty  specimen  of  humanity,  but 
we  submit  to  the  inevitable,  point  to  the  particular  goods 
that  we  want,  pay  for  them  with  a  few  small  copper  coins, 
and  take  our  place  once  more  in  our  carriage  to  enjoy  our 
unaccustomed  feast. 

Besides  these  peddlers  of  fruits  and  sweets,  every  large 
station  abounds  with  venders  of  more  substantial  wares; 
brass-work  from  Benares,  inlaid  marble  curios  from  Agra, 
curiously  painted  metal  plates  and  cups  from  Moradabad, 
and  clay  figures  of  all  kinds  and  shapes  and  sizes  from 
Lucknow. 

To  buy  any  article  in  India  is  a  work  of  patience  and 
diplomacy,  on  the  part  of  both  buyer  and  seller.  In  this 
land  I  have  often  thought  of  Solomon's  description  of  the 
purchaser :  "  It  is  naught,  it  is  naught,  saith  the  buyer,  but 
when  he  is  gone  his  way,  then  he  boasteth."  Here  is  the 
conversation  that  is  usually  preliminary  to  a  purchase  in 
India.     "How  much  for  this  clay  figure?"  asks  the  buyer. 

"  One  rupee,"  answers  the  seller. 

"  Too  much,"  is  the  invariable  reply  of  the  buver ;  and  so 
22 


358  DRIVING  A  BARGAIN. 

it  is,  for  the  seller  always  asks  at  least  three  or  four  times 
as  much  as  he  expects  to  take. 

"How  much  will3'ou  give  then?"  asks  the  merchant. 

"Two  annas"  (one  eighth  of  a  rupee),  says  the  prospect- 
ive buyer,  thinking  he  will  be  sure  to  make  his  olfer  low 
enough. 

With  a  gesture  of  surjirise  and  almost  indignation  the 
vender  repudiates  the  oifer,  as  much  as  to  say  :  "  This  is 
simply  outrageous.  Do  you  insult  a  man  by  offering  him 
one-eighth  of  what  a  thing  is  worth  ?  However,  seeing  that 
it  is  you,  and  since  I  regard  you  as  a  very  good  friend,  I 
will  throw  off  a  little  something;  you  may  have  it  for 
twelve  annas." 

"No,  no,"  says  the  buyer,  "I  will  give  you  two  annas, 
take  it  or  leave  it  as  you  choose." 

"What  a  hard-hearted,  cruel  individual  you  are,"  the 
merchant  by  every  look  and  gesture  seems  to  say;  "you 
"would  rob  the  dead  of  their  grave  clothes,  you  would  take 
the  orphan's  last  crust  of  bread  out  of  his  very  mouth ;  but, 
seeing  I  want  to  make  a  sale,  I  will  let  you  have  the  image 
for  eight  annas." 

Again  the  buyer  shakes  his  head  resolutely:  "Two 
annas,  only  two  annas." 

"Well,  you  may  have  it  for  four,"  says  the  seller,  but 
another  resolute  shake  of  the  head  sends  him  off  for  a  few 
minutes. 

He  has  no  idea  of  leaving,  however ;  you  may  count  on 
seeing  liira  back  almost  instantly,  with  an  expression  of 
injured  innocence  on  his  face,  especially  if  there  are  other 
peddlers  near  by,  saying  by  his  looks:  "Well,  rob  me  if  you 
will,  take  the  last  anna  from  a  poor  starving  merchant,  but 
if  you  will  only  give  two  annas  for  this  beautiful  image, 
why,  here  it  is,  take  it,  it  is  yours." 


THE   HIXDU  S  HOLY  CITY. 


359 


Then  very  likely  he  goes  off,  chuckling  over  his  bargain, 
having  obtained  twice  as  much  from  the  unsuspecting  trav- 
eler as  the  thing  was  really  worth. 

Beguiled  by  such  varied  scenes  as  here  described  the 
time  passes  rapidly  away  until  we  come  to  the  end  of  the 
first  stage  of  our  pilgrimage,  the  sacred  city  of  Benares, 


■■,'•'"{■[".') 


J'  ,»..'. 


',' .  -..-m  id^.ii?^^^^^--,,  '".^■^  ^^"'' 


■i«»™.-'\'^iiii 


.(liililiR 
••  lllllllll""*" 


IN   THE   MONKEY  TEMPLE. 


which  is  also  the  end  of  their  journey  for  many  other  pil- 
grims beside  ourselves. 

This  city  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges  is  to  the  Hindu  the 
holiest  place  in  all  the  world,  and  the  Holy  of  Holies  is  the 
well  full  of  dead  flowers  and  rice  and  Ganges  water,  which 
is  worth  to  the  devout  Hindu  any  amount  of  money  per  tea- 
spoonful,  so  sacred  is  it  in  his  eyes. 

The  Hindus  think  that  Benares  is  80,000  steps  nearer 
heaven  than  any  other  place,  and  it  is  the  Mecca  of  every 
devout  Brahmin.     Here,  besides  the  Golden  Temple,  is  the 


3G0     AT  THE  MINGLING  OF  THE  SACRED  STREAMS, 

great  Monkey  Temple,  where  scores  of  monkeys  are  con- 
tinually running  in  and  out.  Here,  too,  is  the  Cow  Temple, 
which  is  only  less  sacred  than  the  abode  of  the  monkeys. 

Not  many  miles  beyond  Benares  is  the  great  city  of 
Allahabad,  a  very  important  place  in  Central  India.  When 
the  Hindu  pilgrim  first  comes  to  Allahabad,  we  are  told, 
he  sits  down  on  the  bank  of  the  Ganges  and  has  his  head 
shaved,  holding  it  over  the  waters  so  that  every  hair  may 
fall  into  the  river,  and  he  believes  that  for  every  hair  he 
shall  get  a  million  years  in  heaven.  So  if  a  man  is  only  rich 
enough  to  take  the  journey  to  Allahabad,  and  has  a  good 
head  of  hair  to  spare,  he  is  sure  of  a  very  considerable  time 
in  Paradise.  The  view  from  the  port  of  Allahabad  is  most 
extensive  and  interesting.  Just  beyond  the  fort  is  the 
juncture  of  the  two  sacred  rivers,  the  Ganges  and  the 
Jumna.  The  Ganges  flows  down  dark  and  muddy,  the 
Jumna  bright  and  sparkling,  and  here  where  they  mingle 
their  water  is  the  place  of  places  for  all  Hindus,  the  most 
sacred,  except  Benares,  in  all  the  world. 

Here  Brahmin  priests  and  fakirs  have  built  their  huts. 
Here  the  barbers  ply  their  trade  in  order  that  the  hairs  may 
fall  into  the  sacred  stream  and  thus  secure  an  eternity  of 
bliss.  Here,  at  the  junction  of  the  two  rivers,  on  the  vast 
plain  which,  in  the  wet  season,  is  swept  by  the  rushing  water, 
and  which  is  left  bare  when  the  dry  season  returns,  a  great 
fair  is  annually  held.  Once  in  six  years  it  is  of  larger  pro- 
portions than  on  other  years,  and  fully  a  million  people,  it  is 
said,  are  sometimes  encamped  on  the  banks  of  these  sacred 
rivers. 

Here,  superstition,  ignorance,  and  ancestral  traditions 
combine  to  fleece  the  pilgrims  of  their  money,  and  to  give  to 
them  for  their  hard  cash  unsubstantial  promises  of  bliss  in 
the  Brahmin's  heaven.     Allahabad,  also,  is  a  great  military 


THE  MUTINY  AT   CAWNPORE.  361 

station  for  English  and  native  soldiers,  and  here,  best  of  all, 
the  American  missionaries,  both  of  the  Presbyterian  and 
Methodist  boards,  have  flourishing  and  important  schools 
and  churches. 

•  But  our  journey  is  a  long  one,  and  we  must  hurry  on 
until  we  reach  Cawnpore,  a  name  forever  associated  with 
hideous  deeds  of  cruelty  and  acts  of  highest  heroism.  Not 
only  have  Englishmen  an  historic  interest  in  this  city,  but 
Americans  as  well  have  part  in  the  traditions  of  the  place, 
for  four  American  missionaries  with  their  wives  and  their 
children  were  among  the  first  to  suffer  martyrdom  in  the 
great  mutiny. 

As  we  recall  the  awful  story  of  the  mutiny,  it  will  be 
remembered  that  for  many  days  the  little  British  garrison 
had  defended  the  helpless  women  and  children  who  had 
taken  refuge  within  the  fort,  with  great  bravery  and  de- 
termination. But  there  was  no  great  general  to  direct 
operations  at  Cawnpore.  Individual  courage  abounded,  but 
the  directing  mind  was  absent.  The  besiegers  pressed  more 
and  more  closely,  until,  at  last,  the  garrison  capitulated 
under  promise  of  safe  conduct  for  all  the  men,  women,  and 
children  to  Allahabad. 

But  the  treacherous  villainy  of  the  bloodthirsty  Nana 
Sahib  was  not  then  known  ;  his  promises  were  believed,  the 
fort  was  surrendered,  and  the  men,  women,  and  children  em- 
barked on  boats  for  passage  to  Allahabad.  No  sooner  were 
they  well  aboard  before  orders  came  from  Nana  to  fire  on 
the  boats  and  to  burn  the  straw  thatch  with  which  they 
were  covered. 

A  murderous  volley  was  poured  upon  the  unprotected 
boats,  and  of  all  the  hundreds  of  soldiers  and  civilians  who 
made  up  their  human  freight,  only  four  escaped  by  swimming 
and  diving  and  dodging  the  bullets  until  they  reached  the 


3G2  THE   HOUSE   OF  MASSACRE. 

opposite  shore.  At  this  juncture  orders  came  from  Nana 
Sahib  to  save  the  women  and  children  alive,  after  all  the 
men  had  been  killed. 

The  women  were  crowded  together  in  a  little  building, 
afterwards  known  as  the  "House  of  Massacre."  Two  hun-^ 
dred  and  one  were  thrown  into  two  rooms,  twenty  feet  by  ten 
in  dimensions.  Here  they  were  kept  in  mortal  and  momen- 
tary terror  of  their  lives  for  a  few  days,  until  at  last  the 
Nana,  hearing  that  Havelock  Avas  on  his  way  to  the  rescue, 
and  thinking  that  he  would  not  be  so  eager  to  make  the 
attack  if  he  knew  that  all  were  dead  whom  he  had  come  to 
rescue,  sent  his  soldiers  to  murder  the  women  who  were 
confined  in  their  narrow  quarters. 

The  soldiers  would  not  obey  his  orders,  and  then  the 
bloodthirsty  wretch  sent  five  professional  butchers  with 
knives  and  hatchets  to  kill  these  frail  and  beautiful  English 
women  and  their  lovely  daughters.  It  took  the  butchers  an 
hour  and  a  half  to  finish  their  horrid  task,  and  for  each 
woman  killed  they  received  one  rupee.  Then  when  the 
awful  massacre  was  completed  and  the  clotted  blood,  ankle 
deep  in  the  House  of  Massacre,  began  to  ooze  out  under  the 
doorsills,  the  bodies  were  rudely  dragged  out  of  the  door 
and  thrown  into  a  well  near  by. 

From  some  of  the  bodies  the  breath  of  life  had  not  yet 
departed,  but  all  were  ruthlessly  thrown  into  the  horrible 
pit.  What  a  contrast  to  these  scenes  of  blood  and  carnage 
is  the  peaceful  Cawnpore  of  to-day!  No  rude  alarms  of 
raging  foes  to-day  disturb  the  silence  of  the  beautiful  garden 
which  surrounds  the  spot  where  the  House  of  Massacre  once 
stood,  and  the  well  hard  by  into  which  the  bodies  were 
thrown.  Around  the  well  is  a  tasteful  stone  enclosure 
several  feet  high,  through  which  one  enters  by  an  iron  gate- 
way into  the  precincts  of  this  most  melancholy  and  pathetic 


THE  ANGEL   OF   REMEMBRANCE.  363 

of  all  spots  in  India.  Over  the  well  rises  a  beautiful  white 
marble  angel  with  outstretched  wings,  bearing  in  either 
hand  a  triumphant  palm  branch, —  a  beautiful  design  most 
beautifully  executed. 

Around  the  mouth  of  the  old  w^ell,  beneath  the  marble 
angel,  is  the  inscription  in  old  English  characters : 

'*Sacrc5  to  tbe  ^cmorg  ot  tbe  ©rcat  Company  of  Cbristlan  ipco* 
pic,  Cblcflg  Momcn  anD  CbtlDren,  Cruellg  ^assacreO  IFlear  tbfs 
Spot  bg  tbe  IRebcl  Ittana  Sabib  aiiD  ^brovvn,  tbe  Dging  witb  tbe 
Dead,  Into  tbe  "Mcll  JBeneatb,  on  tbe  I5tb  Dag  ot  July,  1857." 

In  the  beautiful  Memorial  church  w^hich  marks  the  spot 
where  the  heaviest  fighting  occurred  before  the  capitulation 
of  the  fort,  are  many  inscriptions  which  stirred  my  soul  as  I 
read  them  with  the  memory  of  the  horrible  butchery,  per- 
petrated so  near,  fresh  in  mind.  One  of  these  inscriptions  on 
a  tablet  reared  by  a  widow  in  memory  of  her  husband  who 
had  here  lost  his  life,  is:  "Vengeance  is  mine,  I  will  repay, 
saitli  the  Lord."  Another :  "  AVe  reckon  that  the  sufferings 
of  this  present  time  are  not  worthy  to  be  compared  with  the 
glory  which  shall  be  revealed."  Still  another,  most  appro- 
priate and  touching  of  all :  "  These  are  they  Avhich  have 
come  out  of  great  tribulation." 

Only  about  forty  miles  from  Cawnpore  is  the  still  more 
famous  city  of  Lucknow,  for  here  were  gathered  together  in 
the  "Residency,"  which  was  hastily  fortified  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  mutiny  by  Sir  Henry  Lawrence,  no  less  than 
2,242  persons,  men,  women,  and  children.  Here  for  eighty- 
seven  days,  by  a  small  handful  of  troops  as  compared  with 
the  tens  of  thousands  who  besieged  them,  they  were  de- 
fended, until  the  brave  General  Havelock,  with  his  "Saints," 
who  could  always  be  relied  upon  for  bravery  in  action  and 
clemency  in  victory,  relieved  the  place  and  rescued  their 
countrymen. 


3G4  THE   RESTING^-PLACE   OF   HEROES. 

Soon  after  the  investment  of  the  city  by  the  mutineers, 
the  brave  Lawrence,  who  divides  with  Havelock  the  honors 
of  Lucknow,  was  struck  by  a  shell,  and,  after  two  days  of 
suffering,  during  which  he  directed  and  advised  and  inspired 
his  troops,  he  died,  crying  out :  "  Never  surrender.  Remem- 
ber Cawnpore.  Save  the  women  and  children."  Here,  the 
scene  of  his  heroism,  is  Lawrence's  fitting  monument  with 
the  world-famed  inscription  upon  it : 

"Ibcrc  lies  one 
imbo  trieD  to  Do  bie  Outg." 

Never  did  man  better  deserve  this  simple  but  compre- 
hensive eulogy.  His  dying  directions  w^ere  carried  out  to 
the  letter ;  the  brave  spirit  which  left  his  body  on  July  4, 
1857,  seemed  to  find  a  dwelling-place  in  every  common 
soldier  during  the  awful  months  of  the  siege. 

General  Havelock' s  troops,  which  at  first  came  to  raise 
the  siege,  were  themselves  invested  and  beleaguered  by  the 
rebel  Sahib's  scores  of  thousands;  but  at  last  Sir  Colin 
Campbell,  Avitli  a  still  larger  force,  came  to  the  rescue  of  the 
rescuers,  and,  under  Havelock's  supervision,  the  women  and 
children  were  all  conveyed  in  safety  from  their  long  im- 
prisonment and  taken  to  Allahabad. 

Only  a  few  days  after  the  successful  completion  of  this 
bravest  rescue  in  the  annals  of  history,  the  noble  Havelock, 
yielding  to  mortal  illness  which  had  come  to  him  in  the  per- 
formance of  his  duty,  was  laid  low,  and  he  is  buried,  not  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  as  his  bravery  and  devotion  deserve, 
but  in  a  lonely  grave  some  three  miles  from  the  Residency 
which  he  rescued  and  defended. 

Seldom  have  I  been  more  deeply  moved  than  when  visit- 
ing this  scene  of  heroic  and  pathetic  memory.  The  Resi- 
dency is  now  a  mass  of  ruins  situated  in  the  midst  of  beauti- 
ful gardens ;  but  well  preserved  ruins  they  are,  for  great 


THE  RUINED   RESIDENCY. 


365 


pains  are  taken  by  the  English  government  to  mark  and  pro- 
tect every  reminder  of  the  defense  and  relief  of  Lucknow. 

Beautiful  vines  and  creepers,  all  ablaze  with  blossoms, 
cover  the  ruined  walls  of  the  Residency.  Here  is  the  spot, 
we  said  to  ourselves,  where  men  and  women  of  the  same 
flesh  and  blood  as  ourselves,  for  weary  day  after  weary  day, 
heard  the  whiz  of  bullet  and  the  shriek  of  whirring  shell. 

Here  was  the  banqueting  hall  transformed  into  a  hospital, 
where  hundreds  of  poor  fellows  with  mangled  limbs,  bleed- 


MOSQUE   OP   THE   GREAT   IMAMBARA,   LUCKNOW. 

ing  and  dying,  were  brought  to  spend  their  last  weary  days 
under  the  broiling  sun  of  tropical  India. 

Here  most  interesting  of  all  is  the  "  Tyekhana,"  where 
the  women  were  imprisoned  during  the  siege.  This  is  an 
underground  cellar  with  lofty  walls,  which  was  deemed  the 
safest  place  in  any  part  of  the  Residency.  Two  hundred 
and  ninety-nine  women  were  crowded  into  this  one  cellar  for 
many  dreadful  weeks.  The  fierceness  of  the  siege  and  the 
way  in  which  every  exposed  portion  was  battered  by  the 
sharpshooters  of  the  Rebel  Army,  are  well  indicated  in  this 


3G6  SUFFERINGS   OF  IMPRISONED   WOMEN. 

room  of  suffering  and  death.  Only  three  or  four  very  small 
windows  at  the  top  of  this  room  admit  the  light  and  air. 
They  all  slope  upwards  and  are  overshaded  by  the  projecting 
buildings  overhead,  so  that  it  seems  impossible  for  a  bullet 
or  a  cannon-ball  to  find  its  way  within  this  secure  retreat. 
However,  the  battered  walls  show  that  many  and  many  a 
shell  exploded  within  the  cellar. 

One  hole  is  pointed  out  to  us  by  the  guide  (an  old  sol- 
dier, by  the  way,  who  came  to  the  rescue  with  Havelock's 
army),  made  by  a  cannon-ball  which  swept  a  baby  out  of  its 
mother's  arm  without  injuring  the  mother,  while  it  pinned 
the  bleeding,  mangled  remains  of  the  little  one  against  the 
wall  near  which  the  mother  was  leaning,  spattering  all  the 
walls,  as  well  as  the  mother's  breast,  with  the  baby's  gore. 
'No  wonder  that  the  legends  of  the  place  go  on  to  say  that 
the  mother  went  insane. 

Another  hole  in  the  wall  is  shown  us,  made  by  a  cannon- 
ball  which  whizzed  so  near  a  woman's  ear  that  she  fell  dead, 
killed  by  fright,  though  unharmed  by  so  much  as  a  scratch 
from  the  ball. 

During  this  dreadful  siege,  eight  or  ten  babies  were  born 
in  the  Tyekhana,  most  of  whom,  strange  to  say,  lived  to  the 
estate  of  manhood  and  womanhood.  To  scores  of  the  brave 
men  who  defended  the  Residency  during  that  awful  siege,  as 
well  as  to  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  and  Gen.  Havelock,  may  be 
applied  the  thrilling  verses : 

"  Here  rest  thee,  Christian  warriors,  rest  from  thy  two-fold  strife  ; 
The  battle-field  of  India,  the  battle-field  of  life." 

TVhile  of  the  two  great  generals  and  commanders  who  lie 
interred  near  by  may  be  sung  with  full  assurance  of  faith : 

"  The  gallant  chiefs  of  gallant  men  are  more  than  conquerors  now." 

One  more  city  we  must  visit  before  we  end  this  most 


THE    PERFECTION   OF  ARCHITECTURAL  ART.  3G7 

interesting  and  memorable  journey  —  the  city  of  the  Taj 
Mahal — a  city  justly  famous  for  the  one  perfect  work  of 
architectural  art  in  all  the  world. 

Agra,  the  city  of  the  Taj,  lies  about  a  day's  journey  from 
Lucknow.  Its  chief  gem  is  the  one  building  that  never  dis- 
appoints the  traveler  ;  the  one  glorious  pile  that  fulfills  every 
anticipation.  The  Taj  bursts  upon  the  bewildered  view  as  a 
thing  of  beauty  and  remains  a  joy  forever.  It  is  not  a  tem- 
ple, as  many  people  suppose,  but  a  mausoleum  built  by  the 
great  Mogul,  Shah  Jehan,  over  his  beautiful  Empress 
"  Moom-taj,"  who,  by  her  beauty,  her  grace,  her  intellectual 
ability,  and  her  winning  ways,  had  obtained  such  power  over 
the  Emperor,  that  when  she  came  to  die  she  made  him  prom- 
ise that  he  would  not  marry  again,  and  that  he  would  build 
the  most  beautiful  tomb  in  the  world  over  her  remains  to 
perpetuate  her  name. 

She  died  in  1631,  and  immediately  the  bereaved  Mogul 
set  about  the  task  of  fulfilling  his  promise,  and  of  building 
the  wonderful  tomb  which  is  known  by  all  the  world  as  the 
"  Taj  Mahal."  It  is  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  beautiful  gar- 
den of  palms  and  banyan  trees,  flowering  shrubs  and  bril- 
liant creepers,  fountains  and  marble  tanks  full  of  gold  fish. 

On  three  sides  are  huge  mosque-like  gateways  of  brown 
sandstone  inlaid  with  marble,  so  that  one  does  not  see  the 
glories  of  the  Taj  until  he  enters  through  these  massive  lofty 
portals,  and  the  magnificent  building  breaks  at  once  upon 
his  gaze.  As  the  traveler  beholds  it  first  against  the  intense 
blue  of  the  Indian  sky,  the  white  dome  seems  to  be  soaring 
into  the  sky,  so  light  and  airy  is  the  substantial  architecture. 

We  were  struck  dumb  by  the  beautiful  spectacle,  and 
dropping  upon  a  marble  seat  at  the  very  entrance  of  the 
gardens,  we  feasted  our  eyes  upon  this  most  splendid  of 
buildings.     As  we  enter  the  mausoleum,  astonishment  at  the 


368 


MARVELOUS   DECORATIONS. 


magnificence  and  beauty  of  the  building  gives  place  to 
amazement  at  the  delicate  work  which  is  inwrought  in  every 
part  of  the  structure.  Polished  marble  and  precious  stones 
of  every  description  abound  and  are  wrought  into  the  white 
marble  both  without  and  within.  On  the  Empress's  tomb, 
worked  into  figures  of  flowers,  are  all  kinds  of  precious 
stones,   bloodstones  and    agates,  jasper  and  turquoise    and 


n,o  - 


THE   TAJ   MAHAL. 


lapis  lazuli  of  fabulous  cost.  In  one  flower  alone,  in  an 
obscure  corner  of  the  tomb,  are  thirty -flve  specimens  of 
brilliant  carnelian  ;  in  another  leaf  forming  a  single  petal  of 
a  carnation  are  twenty-three  different  stones.  In  still 
another  flower  are  300  different  jewels  formed  into  an  exqui- 
site rose. 

But  the  hand  of  the  vandal  had  not  been  Avithheld  even 
from  this  most  exquisite  production  of  the  ages.  Some  of 
these  jeweled  flowers  have  been  picked  to  pieces,  and  the 


DESECRATED  BY   TOURISTS.  369 

t 

precious  stones  of  wliich  they  were  made  carried  away ; 
while  on  the  small  crystal  windows  the  tourist  has  frequently 
cut  his  commonplace  name.  Here  we  find  that  "  W.  C. 
Smith  "  and  "  Jane  Higginbottom  "  have  tried  to  immortal- 
ize themselves.  I  wish  that  I  could  hold  them  up  to  perpet- 
ual ignominy  for  their  vandalism. 

Before  we  leave  Agra  one  more  place  claims  our  atten- 
tion, the  palace  where  the  beautiful  queen  lived.  It  was 
built  by  her  husband's  grandfather,  but  largely  beautified  by 
her  own  taste  and  her  husband's  generosity.  The  private 
rooms  of  the  queen  are  embellished  in  the  same  way  as  her 
tomb.  Her  bathroom  is  called  the  "  room  of  mirrors,"  and 
is  ornamented  with  thousands  of  tinv  looking-glasses.  In 
the  niches  of  the  walls  were  placed  fairy  lamps  over  which 
water  flowed  in  an  illuminated  stream  to  the  bath  beneath. 
In  another  part  of  the  palace  is  the  place  where  the  king 
played  parchesi  with  his  twenty-four  wives,  sitting  in  the 
middle  square  himself,  while  each  of  his  wives  in  a  different 
colored  costume,  occupied  one  of  the  twenty-foursquares  of  the 
tesselated  pavement,  and  moved  backward  and  forward  as 
he  commanded,  until  at  last  she  got  into  the  "  home  circle  " 
which  surrounded  his  august  majesty.  From  this  royal 
model  has  come  the  game  so  popular  with  the  children  of 
America.  In  still  another  part  of  the  palace  we  saw  the 
raised  dais  from  which  the  king  and  his  beautiful  queen 
looked  over  the  parapet  into  the  valley  beneath,  where  the 
elephants  and  tigers  were  compelled  to  fight  for  their  delec- 
tation. Those  were  barbaric  days  in  which  the  palace  and 
the  Taj  were  built. 

But  we  must  not  linger.  Our  time  for  the  wonders  of 
Northern  India  is  exhausted,  and  we  must  hurry  on  to  the 
seaport  of  Bombay,  carrying  with  us  throughout  all  our  lives 
enduring  memories  of  the  exquisite  "Jewel  of  Agra." 


CHAPTER  XX. 


ACROSS  THE  INDIAN  OCEAN  — THROUGH  THE  GREAT 

DITCH. 

Some  of  our  Fellow  Passengers — Missionaries  and  Men  of  Mars  —  The 
Little  Athletes  —  Potato  Races  and  Hurdle  Jumping  —  The  Red  Sea  — 
A  Glimpse  of  Sinai  — "And  a  Half,  Eight"  — Waiting  our  Turn- A 
Huge  Jack  o'  Lantern  —  A  Sight  Long  to  be  Remembered  —  A  Stu- 
pendous Enterprise  —  A  Tarnished  Name  —  Canal  Diggers  before  De 
Lesseps  —  In  the  Canal  —  Ismalia  and  her  Donkeys  — ' '  Yankee  Doodle  " 
and  "Washy  Washington" — Undeniable  Desert  —  A  Woman  with  a 
Supplementary  Nose  —  Our  First  Glimpse  of  the  Bedouin  —  A  Family 
of  Arabs  —  The  Land  of  Goshen  —  Pharaoh  and  his  Prime  Minister  — 
Bricks  without  Straw  — The  Fellahiu  and  How  They  Live  — Their 
Superstitions— "O,  Virgin  Mary"— "The  Sun  Do  Move"— The 
Blessings  Brought  by  John  Bull  —  A  Ghostly  Reminder  —  How  They 
Carry  the  Babies  —  "Backsheesh,  Backsheesh" — "Oh  Sugar  for  a 
Nail"— "God  Will  Make  Them  Light,  Oh  Lemons"  — The  Little 
"Sons  of  the  River." 

lE   who  makes  the  voyage   across 

the  Indian  Ocean  from  Bombay 

to  Ismalia  has  nothing  of  ocean 

liorrors  to  dread,  at  least  in  the 

month  of  February,  when  it  was 

our   good  fortune   to   make  the 

journey.     The   majestic   steamer 

sailed  steadily  on,  day  after  day, 

over  rippling  blue  seas,  while  at 

nio'ht  she  seemed  to  be  cutting 

her  way    through    wavelets    of 

molten   silver,   so   bright   is  the 

phosphorescence  of  these  Eastern  waters.     Even  the  poorest 

sailor  suffered  no  qualms  of  seasickness,  and  men,  women, 

and  children  all  enjoyed  themselves  in  their  own  way,  as 

their  tastes  and  habits  dictated. 

(370) 


A  FROLIC   ON  DECK.  371 

Among  our  passengers  were  many  oflBcers  of  the  English 
army,  who  Avere  going  home  on  a  furlough,  and  whose  ev- 
ident delight  at  the  thought  of  seeing  the  green  fields  and 
cooling  fogs  of  old  England,  after  years  on  the  arid  plains  of 
India,  was  as  keen  and  fresh  as  that  of  a  schoolboy  on  his 
way  home  for  his  Christmas  holidays.  Among  the  passen- 
gers, also,  were  many  faithful  missionaries,  whose  service  is 
far  more  arduous  and  far  less  remunerative  than  the  work 
of  the  men  of  Mars,  These  brave  soldiers,  too,  deserve  an 
occasional  holiday,  and  some  of  them,  worn  and  wearied 
and  quite  broken  in  health,  after  years  of  service,  were  going 
back  for  a  short  period  of  rest  to  their  homes  in  America 
and  England. 

It  so  happened  that  among  these  missionary  and  military 
families  were  many  children  of  all  ages  and  sizes,  and  a  very 
happy  day  was  given  them  when  we  all  arranged  for  a 
series  of  races  between  the  little  folks,  with  bright  rupees 
for  prize  money.  There  were  straightaway  races  round  the 
deck,  in  which  an  eager-faced  little  girl,  not  more  than  five 
years  old,  won  most  triumphantly,  passing  the  line  red- 
cheeked  and  panting,  but  full  of  gladness  that  she  had 
beaten  her  older  brothers  and  sisters,  even  though  she  was 
given  a  long  start  at  the  beginning.  Then  there  were  three- 
legged  contests  and  potato  races,  marvelous  juvenile  feats  in 
hurdle-jumping,  and  all  kinds  of  games  for  all  ages  to  partici- 
pate in.  A  brave  major,  with  battle-scars  seaming  his  face, 
w^as  the  starter,  a  warlike  captain  was  the  time-keeper,  and 
a  heroic  missionary  was  the  judge;  and  it  is  strongly  sus- 
pected that  the  warriors  and  the  missionaries  enjoyed  the 
afternoon  quite  as  much  as  the  children  themselves. 

After  four  or  five  days  of  smooth  seas  and  pleasant 
weather  the  Victoria  entered  the  Ked  Sea,  which  is  so  wide 
in  many  parts  that  the  sensation   is  not   that   of  sailing 


372  THROUGH   THE  RED   SEA. 

through  a  narrow  canal  with  land  on  either  side,  as  one 
would  think  when  studying-  the  map,  but,  for  the  most  part, 
one  imagines  that  he  is  on  the  boundless,  shoreless  sea.  To 
be  sure,  once  in  a  while,  we  see  some  bold  promontory  in 
the  distance  or  some  towering  mountain  looming  up  on  the 
hazy  horizon,  and  occasionally  we  pass  near  a  rocky,  surf- 
beaten  island ;  but,  until  the  steamer  reaches  the  narrow 
Gulf  of  Suez,  at  the  northern  end  of  the  Eed  Sea,  there  is 
but  little  dijfference  between  one's  sensations  here  and  upon 
the  broadest  ocean.  In  fact,  the  north  wind,  which  often 
draws  through  this  channel  between  the  mountains  quite 
fiercely,  frequently  makes  the  sea  rougher  than  the  surface 
of  the  neighboring  Indian  ocean. 

As  we  approached  Suez  the  eyes  of  all  the  passengers 
were  strained  to  catch  sight  of  Mount  Sinai,  that  mountain 
which  more  than  any  other  on  the  earth's  surface  has 
affected  the  destinies  of  mankind ;  but  it  is  very  rarely  that 
one  gets  eve  a  a  glimpse  of  the  Mountain  of  the  Law,  for 
only  on  the  clearest  day,  when  the  air  is  absolutely  trans- 
parent, can  it  be  seen  from  the  steamer's  deck.  This  condi- 
tion rarely  prevails  in  these  latitudes,  and  the  captain  of  our 
steamer  told  me  that  only  on  three  occasions,  although  he 
had  sailed  up  and  down  the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea  for  half 
his  lifetime,  has  he  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  mountain  that 
once  quaked  and  smoked  with  fire  and  brimstone. 

Toward  evening  of  a  beautiful  bright  day  in  February 
we  approached  the  low  shores  of  Suez,  and  could  descry  the 
magnificent  embankment  which  indicates  the  entrance  to  the 
Suez  canal,  that  marvel  of  modern  engineering  skill.  The 
channel  by  which  the  approach  is  made  to  the  canal  is  nar- 
row, the  currents  are  treacherous,  and  the  Avater  on  either 
hand  is  shallow,  so  that  great  care  must  be  taken  by  the 
larger   steamers   in   approaching   the   entrance.     For  some 


REVELATIONS   OF   THE   SEARCHLIGHT.  373 

time  before  we  anchored,  waiting  for  our  turn,  the  quarter- 
master on  either  side  of  our  steamer  was  casting  the  lead, 
and  singing  out  in  musical  accents  to  the  pilot  on  the  bridge 
the  depth  of  water  beneath  our  keel.  One  quartermaster 
would  cry  out,  "And  a  half,  eight."  The  next  instant  the 
quartermaster  on  the  other  side  would  respond,  "And  a  half, 
seven,"  showing  that  the  water  was  rapidly  growing  shallow 
and  a  fathom  less  was  between  us  and  the  bottom  than  a 
moment  before.  Then  the  first  quartermaster  would  chant, 
"And  a  quarter,  seven,"  while  the  one  on  the  other  side,  in 
a  kind  of  antiphonal  response  would  answer:  "And  three 
quarters,  six." 

Thus  we  felt  our  way  along,  avoiding  the  shoals  and  the 
sandbanks,  and  then  had  to  cast  anchor  for  several  hours, 
waiting  for  our  turn  to  come  to  enter  the  great  ditch. 

Night  came  on,  and  the  stars  came  out,  but  even  the  stars 
were  paled  by  the  brilliant  electric  searchlight  from  the 
tower  at  the  entrance  of  the  canal,  which  swept  around  in 
every  direction,  bringing  out  every  yardarm,  sail,  smokestack, 
and  huge  trumpet-lilve  ventilator  on  the  vessels  about  us,  in 
startling  relief.  Suddenly,  as  we  were  gazing  out  into  the 
darkness,  thinking  that  no  object  was  within  the  range  of 
our  vision,  the  great  fan-like  wave  of  light  would  sweep 
towards  us  and  rest  for  an  instant  upon  a  full  rigged  vessel, 
which  would  seem  to  start  out  of  the  blackness  like  a  ghosth'' 
visitor.  For  an  instant  the  light  would  play  over  its  huge 
bulk  like  a  vast  enveloping  jack-o'-lantern,  and  then  would 
sweep  on  to  reveal  other  objects  beyond. 

It  was  a  sight  long  to  be  remembered  and  worthy  even 
of  the  marvelous  days  of  the  Pharaohs  themselves,  who  were 
supposed  to  be  versed  in  all  the  occult  wonders  of  mystic 
lore.  This  ghastly  white  light,  sweeping  about,  apparently 
at  its  own  pleasure,  seeminglv  undirected  and  erratic  in  its 

23 


374      UNION   OF   THE   RED   SEA   AND   THE   MEDITERRANEAN. 


movements,  ferreting  out  all  things  within  its  range,  glorify- 
ing the  floating  seaweed  and  the  flotsam  and  jetsam  borne 
by  the  tide,  as  well  as  the  huge  man-of-war  and  leviathan 
merchant  ship ;  this  modern  miracle,  I  believe,  would  have 
astounded  the  miracle-workers  of  old  with  all  their  Egyptian 
learning. 

The  16th  of  November,  1869,  was  a  day  long  to  be  re- 
membered in  the  history  of  the  world,  for  that  day  witnessed 
the  wedding  festivities  of  the  Eed  Sea  and  the  Mediterranean. 


IN   THE   SUEZ   CANAL. 


On  that  day  was  inaugurated  the  vast  enterprise  of  which 
the  ages  had  dreamed  and  which  the  ingenuity  and  persever- 
ance of  the  great  French  engineer  had  made  possible, 
Kearly  one  hundred  million  dollars  had  the  canal  cost ;  and 
it  is  said  that  the  Khedive  spent  no  less  than  twenty  millions 
of  dollars  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  inauguration. 

It  will  be  readily  seen  of  what  inestimable  value  the 
canal  is  to  the  commercial  world,  when  we  remember  that  it 
reduces  the  distance  from  London  to  Bombay  from  12,500 
to  7,000  miles,  a  saving  of  nearly  one-half.     From  London 


#  ■ 
THE   FIRST   WATERWAY   BETWEEN  THE   TWO   OCEANS.     375 

to  Hong  Kong  the  distance  is  over  15,000  miles  by  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  and  only  11,000  miles  by  the  canal ;  while 
from  Marseilles  to  Bombay,  the  distance  by  the  Cape  is  over 
12,000  miles,  by  the  canal  only  5,000,  a  saving  of  nearly 
sixty  per  cent.  But  not  only  is  the  canal  a  stupendous  and 
successful  enterprise  from  a  commercial  point  of  view,  but  it 
is  as  successful  financially  as  in  every  other  aspect.  The 
tolls  amount  to  many  millions  of  dollars  every  year,  and  are 
constantly  increasing. 

But  it  must  not  be  thought  that  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury was  first  conceived  the  project  of  a  waterway  between 
the  two  oceans,  or  that  De  Lesseps'  fertile  brain  was  the  first 
to  evolve  this  gigantic  scheme.  From  the  very  earliest 
days  there  was  an  overland  route  between  the  Mediterra- 
nean and  the  Red  Sea,  but  it  is  said  that  Sethi  I,  the  great 
prince  of  the  nineteenth  Egyptian  dynasty,  desirous  of  trans- 
porting his  navies  from  one  sea  to  the  other,  built  the  first 
canal.  A  representation  of  his  time  on  the  wall  of  the  ban- 
quet hall  of  Karnac,  tells  us  that  on  his  victorious  return 
from  Egypt  the  conqueror  traversed  a  canal,  swarming  with 
crocodiles  and  defended  by  bastions. 

But  Father  Time  has  a  great  fashion  of  defacing  and  de- 
stroying the  mighty  works  of  man.  If  with  his  tooth  he 
can  gnaw  away  the  pyramids,  he  has  little  difficulty  in  fill- 
ing up  a  ditch,  however  vast  it  may  be,  or  however  impor- 
tant to  the  commerce  of  the  world.  And  so  it  came  about, 
as  the  centuries  went  on,  and  lesser  men  occupied  the  throne 
of  the  Pharaohs,  and  the  people  relapsed  into  commercial  in- 
difference, that  this  canal  was  obliterated,  and  even  its 
course  cannot  be  discovered  to-day. 

But  eight  hundred  years  after  the  Pharaoh  who  built  the 
first  canal,  came  Pharaoh  Xekho,  who  was  very  desirous  for 
the  welfare  of  his  country.     He  began  to  construct  a  canal 


376      ANCIENT   CANALS,  EGYPTIAN,  PERSIAN,  AND    ROMAN. 

between  the  Nile  and  the  Red  Sea,  and  it  is  said  that  no  less 
than  120,000  Egyptians  perished  while  engaged  in  this  work. 
It  was  afterwards  abandoned,  because  the  oracle  told  Pha- 
raoh that  the  barbarians  alone  would  profit  by  the  work. 
However,  the  work  already  accomplished,  and  the  lives 
lost,  did  not  go  altogether  for  nothing,  for  the  canal  was 
completed  by  Darius,  the  great  founder  of  the  Persian 
Empire,  the  same  Darius  of  whom  we  read  in  the  Book  of 
Daniel,  Avho  has  left  in  many  ways  the  impress  of  his  mighty 
personality  upon  the  world. 

Even  as  late  as  the  century  immediately  before  the 
Christian  era,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  remains  of  this  old 
canal  were  still  found,  for  history  tells  us  that  after  the  battle 
of  Actium,  Cleopatra  made  an  effort  to  convey  her  ships 
across  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  in  order  to  escape  with  her  treas- 
ures from  Octavius.  If  there  had  been  no  canal,  she  would 
not  have  been  foolish  enough  to  try  to  transport  her  ships 
over  the  land,  though  it  is  probable,  as  the  historians  tell  us, 
that  the  canal  was  in  a  very  dilapidated  condition. 

Afterwards,  it  is  said  that  the  Romans,  and  later  still,  the 
Arabs,  reconstructed  the  old  canal  or  dug  a  new  one;  but  the 
only  thing  that  seems  to  be  certain  about  this  vast  hole  in 
the  ground  is,  that  it  became  unserviceable  after  the  eighth 
century,  and  for  a  thousand  years  the  merchants  toilsomely 
sent  their  vessels  around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  until  De 
Lesseps  proved  the  feasibility  of  the  present  canal,  the  possi- 
bility of  its  construction,  and  with  unbounded  faith  and 
energy  overcame  the  countless  obstacles  which  lay  between 
him  and  triumphant  success. 

But  during  all  this  time  our  vessel  has  been  anchored 
near  the  entrance  of  the  canal,  waiting  for  the  signal  to  be 
given  that  the  channel  is  clear,  and  that  it  is  our  turn  to 
enter.     At  last  it  comes,  and,  weighing  anchor,  stealthily 


THROUGH   THE   GREAT   DITCH. 


377 


and  slowly,  the  great  ship  swings  within  the  breakwater 
which  defends  the  mouth  of  the  canal,  and  very  slowly  feels 
its  way  between  the  sandy  banks  that  stretch  away  on  either 
side.  The  great  ditch  is  tw^enty-five  feet  wide  at  the  bot- 
tom, while  on  the  surface  it  is  much  wider,  and  sometimes 
stretches  out  into  broad  natural  lakes,  which  saved  the  con- 
structors of  the  canal  much  digging  on  their  way  from  sea 
to  sea.  There  is  very  little  of  special  interest  in  the  journey 
to  Ismalia. 
It  takes 
about  eight 
hours  time, 
so  slowly  do 
the  steamers 
proceed,  lest 
the  wash  of 
waves  which 
they  create 
should  de- 
s  t  r  o  y  the 
banks.  But 
at  last  in  the 
early  morn- 
ino^  lio^ht,  the 
little  modern 
town    where 

we  are  to  leave  our  floating  home  comes  in  sight,  and  a 
steam  launch  soon  bears  us  to  the  shore. 

There  is  almost  nothing  to  see  in  Ismalia  except  the 
donkeys  and  the  donkey  boys.  The  latter  are  ubiquitous 
and  most  persistent.  They  meet  you  at  the  landing;  they 
thrust  their  donkev  in  vour  face  and  eyes  as  soon  as  you 
step  ashore.     They  plant  Jiim  before  you,  broadside  on,  to 


DONKEY  BOY   OF  ISMALIA. 


378      "YANKEE   doodle"'   AND    "  WASHY-WASHINGTON." 

bar  your  further  progress,  unless  jou  mount  and  ride. 
They  sound  his  praises  in  every  note  of  the  gamut.  After 
all  other  recommendations  fail,  they  plead  Avith  you  to  take 
him  because  of  his  "lovely  black  eyes."  One  boy  even  rec- 
ommended his  donkey  to  us  as  a  "riglar  masher."  If  they 
suspect  you  of  being  an  American,  they  will  cry  out,  "  Take 
my  donkey,  Master,"  "  My  donkey  is  Yankee  Doodle,"  "  My 
donkey's  name  is  Washington,"  while  one  boy  gravely  as- 
sured us,  thinking  that  he  surely  would  secure  our  patronage 
thereby,  that  his  animal  rejoiced  in  the  name  of  "Washy- 
Washington." 

We  tarry  in  Ismalia  no  longer  than  is  absolutely  nec- 
essary, for  stranger  sights  lure  us  on  to  the  City  of  the 
Califs. 

Taking  the  railway  at  Ismalia,  a  journey  of  a  few  hours 
brings  us  to  the  ancient  city  of  Cairo.  The  first  part  of  the 
way  lies  through  the  desert,  and  a  most  uncompromising 
■and  undeniable  desert  it  is.  The  yellow  sand  hems  in  the 
narrow  railway  track  on  every  side,  and  there  is  scarcely  a 
green  thing  far  or  near  to  refresh  the  eyes.  Still,  barren  as 
is  the  country,  its  people  are  of  never-failing  interest. 
Every  railway  station  is  bright  with  the  colors  of  the  curious 
costumes  of  men  and  women.  Here  is  an  orange  seller,  for 
instance,  with  her  face  entirely  covered  by  a  hideous  black 
veil,  with  only  a  slit  large  enough  for  two  piercing  black 
eyes  to  shine  through.  Over  her  nose  is  a  curious  brass 
contrivance  like  a  great  supplementary  nose,  which  seems  to 
attach  the  veil  to  the  upper  part  of  the  headdress..  Here  is 
another  woman  with  a  heavy  water  jar  on  her  head,  which 
she  carries,  standing  proudly  erect,  in  a  way  that  shows 
that  she  has  been  used  to  such  burdens  from  her  earliest 
girlhood.  At  another  station  we  see  a  whole  family  of 
Arabs  squatting  upon  the  platform,  the  women  veiled  as 


GREEN  FIELDS   AND   WAVING   PALMS. 


379 


those  we  have  already  described,  though  the  Httle  girls  are 
allowed  to  go  with  uncovered  faces.  For  the  most  part, 
they  are  a  stupid,  degraded  lot  of  human  beings,  with  noth- 
ing of  aspiration  in  their  eyes,  and  no  desire  to  be  anything 
but  the  hewers  of  wood  and  the  drawers  of  water  which 
they  and  their  ancestors  have  been  for  so  many  centuries. 

After  a  few  miles  of  this  desert  journey,  we  grow  rather 
listless  and  indifferent  to  that  which  may  be  seen  outside  the 


ON   THE   BANKS   OP   THE   NILE. 


car  window,  but  suddenly  we  are  aroused  from  our  indiffer- 
ence by  an  entrancing  sight  of  green  fields  and  fertile  gar- 
dens and  waving  palm  trees.  It  is  as  though  we  had  come 
into  a  fairy  land,  out  of  a  very  prosaic  workaday  world. 
And  indeed  we  have  entered  fairy  land,  and  the  magician 
that  works  the  wonder  is  none  other  than  old  Father  Nile. 
He  sends  out  his  life-giving  waters,  and  whatever  he  touches 
springs  into  new  life  and  blossoms  like  the  rose.  The  line  of 
demarcation  between  the  desert  and  the  well-favored  lands 


380  IN   THE   LAND   OF   JOSEPH   AND   MOSES. 

of  the  Nile  is  clear  and  distinct ;  one  moment  the  train  is  in 
the  arid  purgatory  of  the  desert,  the  next  it  is  in  the  smiling 
paradise  of  the  oasis. 

And  this  first  fertile  tract  to  which  we  have  come  is  none 
other  than  the  Goshen  of  the  Bible.  No  wonder  that  the 
aged  Jacob  rejoiced  when  his  long  pilgrimage  was  over  and 
lie  entered  into  this  fair  land.  AVe  can  understand  better 
than  ever  before  the  great  power  that  Joseph  must  have  en- 
joyed to  be  able  to  secure  this  goodly  land  for  his  father  and 
his  unbrotherly  brothers. 

Oflf  in  the  distance,  but  a  little  way  from  the  railway 
track,  are  the  fields  where  the  Israelites  made  bricks  without 
straw,  and  perhaps  our  eye  rests  upon  the  very  place  where 
Moses,  rendered  indignant  beyond  the  power  of  control  at 
the  cruelties  which  Avere  heaped  upon  his  suffering  fellow 
countrymen,  slew  the  Egyptian,  and  became  an  exile  from 
the  court  where  he  might  have  reigned  as  a  prince,  "choos- 
ing rather  to  suffer  affliction  with  the  people  of  God  than  to 
enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season."  Our  hearts  throb 
within  us  as  we  look  out  on  these  historic  sights,  and  realize 
that  these  were  the  same  sandy  plains,  the  same  green  fields, 
watered  then  as  now,  "with  the  tears  of  the  Nile,"  while  the 
same  cloudless  Egyptian  sky  bent  over  them  as  over  us. 
Out  here  rode  in  majestic  state  the  famous  Prime  Minister 
of  the  Pharaohs,  the  young  man  who,  by  his  own  virtue  and 
force  of  character,  raised  himself  from  the  position  of  a 
captive  peasant  to  a  prince  of  the  realm.  These  roads,  too, 
were  trodden  by  the  feet  of  Aaron,  the  High  Priest,  by 
Miriam,  the  tuneful  singer;  and  along  these  same  highways 
rumbled  the  chariot  wheels  of  the  great  Pharaohs,  who,  as 
world-conquering  rulers,  have  never  been  equaled  by  Greek 
or  Koman,  Turk  or  Briton. 

We  see  very  little,  however,  to  remind  us  of  the  magnifi- 


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THE   EGYPTIANS   OF   TO-DAY.  383 

cence  of  the  Pharaohs,  or  of  the  state  in  which  Joseph  trav- 
eled in  those  early  days.  Most  of  the  villages  which  Ave 
pass  are  mean  collections  of  wretched  mud  houses.  Their 
four  walls  rise  scarcely  higher  than  the  head  of  a  man,  and 
except  for  an  occasional  mosque,  with  its  slender  minaret, 
there  is  no  attempt  at  architectural  beauty  or  embellishment 
of  any  kind.  Most  of  the  lower  classes  who  swarm  at  the 
railway  stations,  and  whom  we  see  from  the  car  windows, 
wear  around  their  necks  charms,  written  on  paper,  and  sewn 
up  in  leather.  They  are  ignorant  and  sujjerstitious  to  the 
last  degree,  and  not  only  protect  themselves,  but  their  cattle 
in  the  same  way.  Every  man,  as  he  passes  a  saint's  tomb,  it 
is  said,  mumbles  a  prayer  without  stopping,  and,  saints' 
tombs  being  very  numerous,  a  mumbled  prayer  is  always  on 
his  lips.  Some  of  the  great  saints  are  appealed  to  on  every 
possible  occasion.  If  a  man  sneezes,  or  is  afflicted  with  the 
hiccoughs,  or  turns  his  ankle  in  the  streets,  he  adjures  his 
favorite  saint.  Even  if  his  legs  are  stiff  as  he  rises  from  his 
seat,  he  exclaims,  "  O  Virgin  Mary ! "  Their  ignorance  is 
beyond  all  comprehension,  the  education  even  of  the  upper 
classes  being  confined  to  the  narrow  limits  of  the  Koran. 
IS^ot  one  of  them  can  be  convinced  that  the  earth  is  not  flat, 
while  they  agree  thoroughly  with  Parson  Jasper  in  his  dic- 
tum that  "  the  sun  do  move." 

An  Egyptian  school  is  a  curiosity.  The  pupils  sit  on  the 
floor,  study  their  lessons  aloud,  rocking  back  and  forth,  and 
they  make  the  schoolroom  about  as  noisy  as  a  ward  political 
meeting.  I  generally  knew  where  a  schoolroom  was  at  least 
half  a  minute  before  1  reached  its  doors.  The  master  squats 
on  the  floor,  or  stands  among  his  pupils,  who  are  seated  in 
rows  or  promiscuously  scattered  through  the  apartment. 
Their  lessons  are  given  to  them  upon  slates  or  large  cards, 
and  they  sit  rocking  back  and  forth  and  studying  aloud. 


384  THE   DESPISED   EUROPEANS. 

A  learned  priest,  which  means  a  man  learned  in  the  mys- 
teries of  the  Koran,  indignantly  walked  out  of  an  examina- 
tion hall  in  Cairo  recently,  when  told  that  the  scholars  were 
there  taught  that  the  earth  was  round.  Xo  sucli  heresy 
would  he  allow  to  have  place  even  for  a  moment  in  his  the- 
ology. Every  other  man  is  to  a  Mohammedan  an  infidel ; 
and  not  only  an  infidel,  but  a  miserable  and  despicable  infi- 
del, at  that,  who  deserves  stoning  and  torture  and  death, 
though  the  laws  unjustly  interfere  in  his  behalf.  Even  the 
children  will  greet  the  Europeans  on  the  street  with  the 
exclamation  :  "  Ya  ISTusrani !  "  (O  Xazarene).  The  donkey 
boy  calls  out  to  his  ass,  as  he  prods  him  with  a  sharp  stick : 
"  Go  along,  you  son  of  a  pig,  get  on,  you  son  of  a  Nazarene  I  " 

It  is  said  by  those  who  have  lived  long  in  Egypt,  that  the 
centuries  of  oppression  under  hard  task  masters,  and  the 
subserviency  to  a  false  and  degrading  religion,  have  not  only 
dulled  the  moral  and  intellectual  faculties  of  the  Egyptians, 
but  have  deadened  even  their  physical  senses  as  well.  A 
traveler  and  resident  for  ten  years  in  Egypt  says  that  the 
sense  of  pam  is  very  small  among  the  lower  classes,  that  their 
olfactory  nerves  are  also  extremely  dull,  that  they  cannot 
distinguish  one  person  from  another  by  his  footsteps,  and 
not  easily  by  his  voice,  and  that  they  never  hear  a  slight  or 
distant  sound,  or  notice  a  whisper. 

In  the  interior  of  the  poor  houses,  whose  outer  walls  we 
see  from  the  train,  is  no  furniture  worthy  of  the  name.  A 
few  mats,  a  sheepskin,  a  basket  or  two,  kettles  for  heating 
water,  and  a  small  arrav  of  wooden  dishes,  is  all  that  we 
find  within  the  hut,  and  this  hut  is  shared  by  the  hens  and 
the  ducks,  the  goats,  and  the  sheep  of  the  establishment,  as 
well  as  by  the  human  inhabitants,  while  the  cows  and  buffa- 
loes would  have  no  hesitation  in  pushing  their  way  within 
the  doors,  were  they  wide  enough  to  receive  them. 


FOOD   OF  THE   LOWER  CLASSES.  385 

Almost  the  only  food  of  the  laboring  classes  is  a  kind  of 
bread  made  of  sorghnm  flour  or  of  Indian  corn,  wheaten 
bread  being  eaten  only  by  the  wealthy  classes.  For  supper, 
however,  we  are  told,  even  the  poorest  cause  a  hot  repast  to 
be  prepared.  This  usually  consists  of  a  highly  salted  sauce 
made  of  onions  and  butter,  or,  in  the  poorer  houses,  of  butter 
and  linseed  oil. 

Around  the  low  table  the  various  members  of  the  family 
sit,  while  each  member  dips  his  piece  of  bread,  held  in  his 
fingers,  into  this  common  family  sauce.  In  addition  to  this, 
buffaloes'  and  goats'  milk,  and  in  the  summer,  cucumbers  and 
pumpkins  are  the  only  addition.  Of  course,  this  meagre  bill 
of  fare  and  this  wretched  manner  of  life  applies  to  the 
lower  classes  only.  There  is  an  aristocracy  in  Egypt,  as 
there  is  everywhere  else,  that  clothes  itself  in  purple  and  fine 
linen  and  lives  upon  the  fat  of  the  land.  But  the  poverty  of 
the  masses  is  almost  beyond  description. 

Poor  as  it  is,  the  common  people  of  Egypt  were  probably 
never  so  well  off  as  they  are  to-day.  From  the  time  of  the 
Israelites  they  have  lived  the  lives  of  serfs.  Oppressed  by 
the  original  Pharaohs,  doubly  oppressed  by  each  succeeding 
dynasty,  their  lives  held  cheaper  than  the  very  dirt  of  the 
street,  hundreds  of  thousands  of  them  sacrificed  in  the  dig- 
ging of  every  great  canal  and  the  building  of  every  gigantic 
pyramid ;  it  is  only  within  the  memory  of  the  present  gener- 
ation that  attention  has  been  called  to  the  wretched  con- 
dition of  the  Fellahin,  and  that  anything  has  been  done  for 
their  relief.  Since  the  English  have  acquired  a  dominating 
control  in  Egypt,  their  beneficent  rule  has  been  felt  as  in 
other  Eastern  lands.  Order  has  come  out  of  chaos,  justice 
has  succeeded  to  tyranny,  and  theoretically,  at  least,  the 
tiller  of  the  soil  can  assert  his  rights  as  well  as  the  proudest 
descendant  of   the  Pharaohs.     As  a   matter  of   fact,  there 


386  DISTINGUISHING  COLOR  OF  THE  TURBAN. 

is  doubtless  still  very  much  of  oppression  and  iniquitous 
taxation,  for  the  work  of  centuries  cannot  be  undone  in  a 
moment,  or  the  rights  of  a  people  secured  by  a  single  decree. 
However,  Egypt  is  on  the  high  road  to  recovery.  Every 
succeeding  year  sees  a  better  state  of  affairs  in  the  land  of 
the  Nile,  and  the  common  people,  at  least,  should  devoutly 
give  thanks  for  the  interference  of  John  Bull  and  his  red- 
coats. 

But  among  our  fellow-passengers  are  many  others  be- 
sides the  Fellahin  of  the  Nile.  There  are  grave  Mohamme- 
dan dignitaries.  Some  of  these  Moslems  wear  green 
turbans,  showing  that  they  are  descendants  of  the  great 
prophet  himself,  for  no  others  are  allowed  to  wear  this 
color.  The  scholars  wear  a  broad,  evenly-folded  turban  of  a 
light  color,  and  it  is  said  that  the  orthodox  length  of  a 
believer's  turban  is  seven  times  that  of  his  head,  being 
equivalent  to  the  whole  length  of  his  body,  in  order  that  the 
turban  may  afterwards  be  used  as  the  wearer's  winding- 
sheet,  and  that  this  thought  may  familiarize  him  with  the 
prospect  of  death. 

The  Copts,  some  of  whom  we  also  see  among  our  fellow- 
passengers,  or  among  the  loungers  at  the  railway  station, 
wear  a  dark  blue  turban,  and  the  Jews  a  turban  of  yellow, 
since  these  were  the  colors  decreed  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury. 

One  of  the  most  characteristic  things  of  any  country  is 
the  wav  in  which  the  children  are  carried.  As  mav  well  be 
believed,  such  luxuries  as  baby  carriages  are  unknown  in  the 
East.  In  China  and  Japan  the  babies  are  strapped  upon 
the  backs  of  their  mothers ;  in  India  they  are  carried  upon 
their  thighs;  while  in  Egypt  they  are  perched  upon  their 
mother's  shoulders,  the  little  legs  hanging  down  before  and 
behind,  while  thev  lean  over  on  their  mother's  head,  and 


CLAIMANTS   FOR  CHARITY.  387 

frequently   go  to   sleep   in    this    seemingly    uncomfortable 
position. 

Of  course  beggars  are  very  common.  You  cannot  step 
off  the  railway  trains,  or  into  the  mosques,  or  turn  the 
corner  of  the  streets,  without  being  besieged  by  some  new 
claimant  for  charity.  Thin,  scrawny,  diseased  hands  are 
thrust  into  your  face  at  every  turn,  and  your  loathing  re- 
pugnance is  more  often  excited  than  pity,  by  the  horrible 
specimens  of  humanity  that  dog  every  footstep.  Men  with 
noses  and  chins  eaten  away  by  cancer,  with  eyes  sealed  and 
corroded  by  countless  sores,  with  finger  joints  twisted  and 
gnarled  by  rheumatism,  or  with  handless  stumps  gradually 
being  eaten  away  by  leprosy,  confront  us  at  every  turn  until 
one  has  to  harden  himself  against  these  sights,  or  else  flee 
incontinently  within  doors,  and  lock  himself  away  from  all 
his  fellow-men. 

Instead  of  politely  saying  good  morning  to  the  passing 
stranger,  the  beggar  cries  out  to  every  European,  "  Back- 
sheesh, backsheesh ! "  (A  gift,  a  gift.)  The  wise  traveler 
responds  to  all  such  salutations,  "  Ma  fish,  ma  fish ! "  (I  have 
nothing  for  you).  Or,  if  he  wishes  to  vary  the  formula,  he 
will  say,  "  Allah  yatik  "  (May  God  give  thee).  This  often 
answers  in  place  of  backsheesh,  and  the  beggar  will  go  away 
quite  as  contented  as  if  he  had  received  what  he  asked  for. 

A  very  common  sight  in  the  great  cities,  as  well  as  in  the 
smaller  towns,  is  the  water  carrier  with  his  goat-skin  of 
water,  which  looks  like  the  great  bloated  carcass  of  an 
animal  carried  on  his  back.  He  still  plies  his  trade  in  the 
city  of  Cairo,  although  the  city  is  well  supplied  with  water 
from  the  new  water-works.  Still,  he  passes  along  the  street, 
with  his  heavy  goat-skin  on  his  shoulders,  crying  out  at  the 
top  of  his  lungs,  "  Ya  auwad  Allah ! "  (May  God  recompense 
me).     Nevertheless,  notwithstanding  his  pious  cry,  he  will 


388 


DISPENSING   THE    DRINK   OFFERING. 


be  very  iiiucli  disappointed  if  any  one  took  a  draft  from  bis 
goat-skin  and  left  all  tbe  recompense  to  Allab. 

On  feast  days,  especially  tbe  birtbdays  of  tbe  saints, 
pious  Moslems,  desirous  of  securing  an  easy  entrance  into 
paradise,  frequently  bire  one  of  tbese  water  carriers  to 
supply  all  comers  witb  water  gratuitously.  Tben  tbe  water 
carrier  sbouts  in  a  loud  tone,  "Sebil  Allab  ya'  atsban  ya 
moyeb  !  "  In  tbis  way  be  invites  all  to  drink  freely,  but  be 
is  very  careful  to  turn  to  bis  employer,  wbo  usually  stands 


■WATER-CARRIERS   FILLING   THEIR   GOAT   SKINS. 

near  bim  witb  a  good  deal  of  ostentation,,  saying,  "  God  for- 
give tby  sins,  ob  dispenser  of  tbe  drink  offering,  God  bave 
mercy  on  tby  parents ! "  To  wbicb  tbey  wbo  are  partaking 
of  tbe  water  reply,  "Amen.  God  bave  mercy  on  tbem  and 
on  us."  After  numerous  blessings  of  a  similar  kind  bave 
been  intercbanged,  tbe  sakka  bands  tbe  last  cup  of  water 
to  bis  employer  witb  tbe  Avords :  "Tbe  remainder  for  tbe 
liberal  men,  and  paradise  for  tbe  confessor  of  tbe  unity.  God 
bless  tbee,  tbou  dispenser  of  tbe  drink  offering." 


STREET   CRIES   OF   THE   ORIENT.  389 

Many  of  the  other  cries  that  one  hears  in  the  street  or  in 
the  railway  station  are  equally  curious.  The  cry  of  the  ^ 
orange  merchant  and  the  itinerant  fish  peddler  at  home  are 
quite  unintelligible,  though  spoken  in  one's  own  language, 
and  it  can  easily  be  imagined  that  the  street  cries  of  Egypt  are 
quite  beyond  the  comprehension  of  the  passing  tourist.  So, 
without  shame,  we  must  confess  that  we  have  consulted  our 
guide  book  at  this  point  for  the  interpretation  of  these  cries. 

There  is  a  man  with  a  thin  jelly  made  of  starch  and 
sugar.  He  is  crying  out,  "  O  sugar  for  a  nail,  O  confec- 
tion ! "  which  unintelligible  cry  indicates  that  he  is  willing 
to  barter  his  jelly  for  a  nail  or  piece  of  old  iron. 

There  is  a  vender  of  lemons,  who  calls  out  to  us  as  we 
pass  by,  "  God  will  make  them  light,  O  lemons !  "  We  turn 
to  Baedeker  to  find  that  he  means  to  sa}^  in  his  highly 
figurative  and  poetic  language,  that  God  will  help  him  to 
sell  his  lemons,  and  thus  make  his  baskets  light. 

Another  long  cry  of  twenty  syllables  rings  out  on  the  air, 
which,  being  interpreted,  reads  as  follows :  "  Help,  O  help, 
the  lupins  of  Embabeh  are  better  than  almonds!  O  how 
sweet  is  the  little  son  of  the  river !  "  This  cry,  too,  must  be 
interpreted,  when  we  find  that  it  means  that  the  peas  which 
this  vender  has  to  sell  require  to  be  soaked  in  river  water 
some  time  before  they  are  boiled.  On  this  account  they  are 
called  "  Sons  of  the  river,"  and  their  praises  are  thus  sung 
by  this  poetical  child  of  the  desert. 

By  these  various  sights  and  sounds  and  cries  of  street 
vender  and  beggar,  we  are  welcomed  to  Cairo,  the  magic 
city  of  the  Orient,  and  find  ourselves  m  the  country  of  the 
Arabian  nights,  the  capital  city  of  the  Cailifs. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PHARAOHS  — THE  MOST  WONDER- 
FUL MUSEUM  IN  THE  WORLD  — THE  MUMMY  OF  PHA- 
RAOH THE  OPPRESSOR,  AND  HOW  THE  BODY  WAS  DIS- 
COVERED—LOOKING INTO  PHARAOH'S  FACE. 

Marvelous  Cairo  —  A  Vivacious  Traveler  —  Eyes  wanted  Before  and  Be- 
liiud  —  Fashion  in  a  Fez  —  Madam  Grundy  in  Egypt  —  At  the  Sugar 
Cane  Bazaar — A  Glimpse  of  the  Khedive  —  A  Boy  in  a  Fez  —  The 
Flight  into  Egypt  —  The  Tree  of  the  Virgin  —  How  the  Spider  Out- 
witted Herod  —  The  Only  Relic  —  Joseph's  Father-in-Law  —  Where 
Joseph  was  Married  —  The  Most  Wonderful  Museum  in  the  World  — 
A  Room  Full  of  Mummies  —  Moses'  Playfellow  —  What  the  Bible  says 
of  Him  —  A  Mummy  over  Three  Thousand  Years  Old  —  The  Pharaoh 
of  the  Oppression  —  Where  He  was  Buried  —  The  Location  a  ]\Iighty 
Secret  for  Centuries  —  How  the  Tomb  was  Discovered  —  Unwinding 
the  Mummy  —  How  Pharaoh  Looked  —  Description  of  the  Body  —  Its 
Identity  Established  —  Where  is  the  Pharaoh  of  the  Exodus  '? 


E   who   travels   around   the   world 

is  apt  to  become  somewhat  sated 

with  Avonders  before  he  reaches 

Egypt.     The  glories   of    Japan, 

I  '  ^^       |1     j  4^MLii       the  wonders  of  China,  the  ancient 

I  h'%    .,f^-<  ■!  1 1 1      ^^^^^       magnificence  of   India,  in  some 

m  }i^W  ^^  "       Siyb         degree  exhaust  his  capacit}^  for 

sight-seeing;   his   mind   becomes 
glutted    with   marvelous   memo- 
ries, and  it  requires  a  place  of 
unusual   interest    to    arouse    his 
somewhat   flagging   enthusiasm. 
But  Cairo  is  such  a  place.     Coming  to  it  from  the  East 
or  the  "West,  its  strange  charm  is  alwaj^s  felt.     IS^o  traveler 
can  be  so  Uase  as  not  to  acknowledge  the  magic  of  this  mar- 
velous citv.     The  strange  people,  the  curious  costumes,  the 

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IN   THE    STREETS    OF    CAIRO, 


393 


mingling  of  the  Occident  and  the  Orient,  the  unfamiliar 
cries  in  the  street,  the  characteristic  crowd  of  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  men  in  front  of  each  coffee  house,  the  strange 
manners  and  customs  of  the  bazaar,  all  furnish  material 
for  days  of  delight  in  the  capital  of  Egypt.     Before  we  go 


STREET   MUSICIANS  AND   DANCERS   OF   CAIRO. 

out  of  the  city  to  see  "the  more  marvelous  wonders  beyond  — 
the  pyramids  and  the  sphinx,  which  alone  of  all  the  crea 
tions  of  man  have  defied  the  ravages  of  centuries  —  let  us  • 
spend  a  little  wdiile  within  the  city  itself. 

Cairo  has  been  compared  by  a  vivacious  writer  to  a 
mosaic  of  the  most  fantastic  and  bizarre  description,  in  which 
all  nations,  customs,  and  epochs  are  represented,  a  living 
museum  of  all  imaginable  and  unimaginable  phases  of  exist- 

24 


394 


VIGOROUS   AIDS   TO    LOCOMOTION. 


ence,  of  refinement  and  degeneracy,  of  civilization  and  bar- 
barism, of  knowledge  and  ignorance,  of  paganism,  Christian- 
ity, and  Mohammedanism.  "  In  the  boulevards  of  Paris, 
and  on  London  bridge,"  says  one,  '"  I  saw  but  the  shadow, 
and  at  Alexandria  heard  only  the  prelude  of  the  babel  of 

Cairo,  to  Avhich  the  Eoman  or 
Yenetian  carnival  is  tame  and 
commonplace." 

In  order  to  enjoy  these 
things  thoroughly,  one  desires 
eyes  behind  as  well  as  before, 
and  the  steady  power  of  forc- 
ing one's  way  possessed  by  the 
camel.  However,  as  a  camel 
is  a  bulk  too  huge  for  these 
narrow  streets,  we  will  hire  a 
donkey,  with  which,  and  the 
help  of  a  vigorous  and  viva- 
cious boy  behind  to  prod  him 
with  a  sharp  stick,  and  twist 
his  tail  occasionally  (a  means 
of  uroino-  to  locomotion  which 
we  cannot  altogether  prevent, 
although  we  are  sure  that  the 
Society  for  the  Prevention  of 
Cruelty  to  Animals  would  dis- 
ajiprove),  we  can  manage  to  get  through  the  crowd. 

The  experience  of  the  traveler,  Goltz,  is  so  graphically 
told,  and  so  true  to  the  experience  of  many  another  traveler 
in  Cairo,  that  I  cannot  help  quoting  a  paragraph  from  his 
pleasant  description.  '•  Having  carefully  learned  the  ex- 
pressions '  ana'  a  wiz  humar '  (I  want  a  donkey)  and  '  bikan 
kii'sh  deh '  (how  many  piasters  ? ),  I  yielded  to  the  temptations 


PRAYING  IN  THE  STREETS  OF  CAIRO. 


THE   DONKEY   BOYS   OF   CAIRO. 


396 


of  plunging  recklessly  into  the  thick  of  Arabian  life,  its  con- 
versation and  its  equestrianism.  I  therefore  pronounced  the 
mystic  words  with  the  satisfaction  of  a  child  which  utters 
articulate  expressions  for  the  first  tune,  when  I  was  instantly 
so  perfectly  understood  by  a  score  of  donkey  boys  that  they 
all  offered  me  their  donkeys  at  once  ;  though  perhaps  they 
would  have  done  so  had  I 
not  spoken  at  all.  I  felt 
like  a  magician  who  has 
succeeded    in    discovering 


an  effectual  formula  of 
conjuration.  After  this 
display  of  my  abilities,  I 
vaulted  into  the  saddle 
with  as  much  ease  and 
assurance  as  if  Cairo  had 
been  my  home.  The  don- 
key boy  then  probably 
asked  me  '  "Where  to  ? ' 
whereupon,  feeling  that 
my  stock  of  Arabic  phrases 
and  cabalistic  f ormluae  was 
nearly  exhausted,  I  replied 
in  a  very  abbreviated 
form:  'Kullo,  Kullo' 
(everything),  meaning 
that  I  wanted  to  see  everything.  The  donkey  boy  then 
nodded  to  this,  'All  right,  I  understand,'  and  I  now  felt 
perfect  confidence  in  my  powers  of  speech. 

"  My  donkey  now  set  off  at  a  gallop  and  plunged  into 
the  midst  of  a  labyrinth  of  lanes  full  of  riders  and  walkers, 
but  where  I  was  going,  or  hoAV  far,  or  why,  I  was  unable  to 
tell.     That,  however,  was  precisely  the  joke  of  the  thing." 


LATTICED  "WTNDOWS  —  CAIRO. 


39G  FASHIONS   IN   FEZZES. 

It  is  altogether  probable,  however,  that  our  wide-awake 
traveler  found  himself  before  long  in  the  bazaars,  for  the 
donkey  boys  have  a  secret  understanding  with  the  proprie- 
tors of  these  bazaars  that  they  shall  bring  every  unsuspect- 
ing traveler  within  their  web  as  soon  as  possible.  So  pictur- 
esque is  the  sight  that  the  traveler  is  usually  quite  ready  to 
be  caught,  even  though  it  means  that  he  will  be  despoiled  of 
a  few  francs,  and  have  very  little  to  show  for  them. 

We  passed  through  one  street  which  seemed  to  be  very 
largely  given  up  to  the  fez  makers.  Here  is  the  universal  head 
covering-  of  the  Turk  in  all  stages  of  manufacture.  New 
fezzes  are  being  shaped,  and  old  fezzes  are  being  re-ironed, 
just  as  silk  hats  are  put  into  good  condition  in  the  hat  shops 
of  other  countries.  A  truncated  cone  of  brass  is  the  mould 
on  which  the  fez  is  built,  and  since  scarcely  any  other  kind 
of  head  gear  is  used  in  this  or  any  other  part  of  the  Moham- 
medan world,  it  will  be  seen  that  these  little  factories  trans- 
act a  very  large  business.  In  fact,  the  fez  is  the  sign  of 
national  subjection  to  the  Turk,  and  Christians  and  Jews  in 
Turkish  lands  were  originally  obliged  to  wear  it,  if  I  mistake 
not,  on  pain  of  being  treated  as  heretics  and  traitors.  In 
these  days  the  servitude  expressed  by  the  fez  is  largely  for- 
gotten, and  in  church  and  on  the  street,  in  the  mosque  and 
in  the  parlors,  in  the  railway  train  and  on  the  house-top, 
wherever  one  sees  a  subject  of  the  Sultan,  or  anyone  belong- 
ing to  a  tributary  nation,  he  will,  doubtless,  see  his  head 
covered  with  the  red,  conical  cap,  with  the  black  tassel  hang- 
ing down  behind. 

It  Avould  seem  that  there  could  not  be  much  diffevence  in 
fezzes,  that  there  was  very  little  scope  for  the  fash'-onable 
hatters  in  this  style  of  head  gear ;  but  human  nature  is  very 
much  the  same  in  all  lands,  and  there  is  a  chance  for  Dame 
Fashion  to  exercise  her  powers,  and  for  Madame  Grundy  to 


A  CHANCE  FOR  MADAME    GRUNDY. 


397 


make  lier  remarks  even  upon  fezzes.  To  the  unpracticed 
eye  they  all  look  alike,  but  some  are  a  little  higher  than 
oihers,  as  we  shall  find  if  we  look  closely ;  some  are  of  a 
■darker  shade  of  red ;  others  come  more  nearly  to  a  point  at 
the  top;  and  just  as  one  funereal  silk  hat  differs  from  an- 


SUGAR-CANE   AND   FRUIT   SELLERS   OF   CAIRO. 

Other  funereal  silk  hat  in  its  solemn  lines  of  ugliness,  so  one 
fez  differs  from  another,  and  the  changing  fashion  makes  the 
fez-makers'  business  good. 

Beyond  this  fez  merchant  is  the  sugar-cane  bazaar,  where, 
leaning  up  against  the  sides  of  the.building,  Ave  see  stacks  of 
tall  canes  from  which  jointed  sections  are  cut  off  for  any 


398  A    PEEP    AT    THE    KHEDIVE. 

passing  customer.  The  small  boy,  as  can  be  easily  imagined, 
especially  enjoys  this  succulent,  sugary  product,  and  he  may 
be  seen  at  almost  any  of  these  numberless  stalls  trying  to 
get  the  very  largest  possible  piece  of  sugar-cane  for  the 
smallest  possible  piece  of  money. 

A  veiled  beauty  (we  Avill  give  her  the  benefit  of  the 
doubt),  with  numerous  strings  of  huge  beads  around  her 
neck,  is  waiting  on  the  small  boy,  and  very  likely  in  the 
foreground  is  a  thick-lipped,  wooUy-pated  Nubian,  who  in 
his  rags  and  dirt  will  lie  out  in  the  sun  all  day  long,  with 
never  a  thought  that  it  is  uncomfortably  warm. 

As  we  were  looking  in  at  one  of  these  shops,  we  saw  an 
unusual  commotion  taking  place  in  the  street  beyond  us. 
People  w^ere  hurrying  to  shop  doors,  and  scurrying  from  the 
side  streets  to  the  corner  of  the  larger  thoroughfare,  as 
though  some  unusual  sight  was  about  to  be  exhibited.  We 
could  not  understand  the  meaning  of  the  commotion  until 
our  donkey  boy  pulled  us  excitedly  by  the  sleeve,  and,  point- 
ing to  the  street,  said  something  about  the  Khedive,  which 
•gave  us  to  understand  that  this  youthful  successor  of  the 
Pharaohs  w^as  about  to  pass. 

Our  surmise  concerning  the  donkey  boy's  information 
was  correct,  and  very  soon  four  or  five  soldiers  dashed  by, 
followed  by  an  open  carriage  drawn  by  a  span  of  splendid 
horses.  In  this  carriage  were  two  men  of  very  ordinary  ap- 
pearance, one  much  older  than  the  other.  Both  wore  red 
fezzes  of  the  ordinary  type,  but  otherwise  were  dressed  as 
European  gentlemen.  The  younger  of  these  two  was  the 
boyish  Khedive  of  Egypt,  the  ruler  whose  predecessors  five 
thousand  years  ago  built  the  pyramids  and  dug  the  ancient 
canals,  and  erected  the  most  magnificent  monuments  which 
the  world  has  ever  seen,  monuments  which  even  time  and 
vandalism  cannot  destroy. 


A   STROLL   THROUGH   THE   BAZAARS. 


399 


brass  ware  and  silver  filagree  work,  amber  and 


Going  on  from  this  bazaar,  from  whose  doorway  we  have 
watched  the  passing  of  the  Khedive,  we  soon  enter  a  perfect 
labyrinth  of  passageways,  lined  on  every  hand  with  little 
stalls  where  every  imaginable  article,  and  a  good  many 
things  which  until  recently  have  been  unimaginable  to  us, 
are  sold 

sandal  wood,  fish  and  vegetables, 
fruit  and  statuettes,  donkey  bells 
and  evil-eye  beads  for  the  camels, 
cakes  and  suo^ar  for  the  bovs,  fod- 
der  for  the  donkevs,  saddles  for 
the  horses,  veils  for  the  women, 
earrings  and  gewgaws  for  the 
Arabs  of  the  desert,  and  every- 
thing which  Eastern  and  AVestern 
ideas  have  rendered  necessary. 

Many  of  these  bazaars  open  out 
of  passageways  that  are  entirely 
covered  overhead,  and  are  dark, 
gloomy  recesses  into  which  a  ray 
of  sunlight  never  struggles.  Still, 
dirty  and  dark,  vermin-infested 
and  beggar-haunted  as  they  are, 
they  are  extremely  interesting, 
and  in  their  mazes  any  one  who 
delights  in  the  study  of  human  nature  can  lose  himself  for 
davs  at  a  time,  but  never  lose  his  interest  in  the  strange 
sights  around  him. 

Before  leaving  this  fascinating  city  there  are  three  ex- 
cursions which  we  must  make, —  one   to  Heliopolis  where 
Joseph  lived,  another  to  the  marvelous  museums  of  Bulak, 
the  most   remarkable  depository  of  antiquities  in  all   the 
.world,  and  the  third  to  the  pyramids  of  Gizeh. 


SHOE   PEDDLER   OP   CAIRO. 


400  TRADITIONS    OF    THE   PAST. 

"We  can  visit  Heliopolis  in  a  single  half  day.  A  pleasant 
road,  winding  oftentimes  between  gardens  of  oranges  and 
lemons,  and  shaded  much  of  the  way  by  these  fragrant 
trees,  takes  us  to  this  famous  City  of  the  Sun.  On  the  way 
we  pass  the  village  of  Matariyeh.  Here  is  the  tree  and  well 
of  the  Virgin.  My  readers,  who  are  acquainted  with  their 
JSTew  Testament  history,  will  remember  that  the  mother  of 
our  Lord,  to  escape  the  cruel  persecutions  of  Herod,  fled  into 
Egypt  with  the  child  Jesus  and  her  husband  Joseph.  The 
pathetic  picture  which  is  so  common  in  Christian  art  of  the 
Flight  into  Egypt,  has  done  scarcely  less  than  the  Bible 
itself  to  impress  this  scene  upon  the  imagination  of  the 
world.  Those  who  have  once  seen  this  picture,  or  any  of 
the  innumerable  copies  of  it,  will  never  forget  the  sweet 
face  of  the  Yirgin  Mother,  as  she  rides  along  the  dusty  road, 
bearing  the  infant  Jesus  in  her  arms,  while  the  dignified  and 
manly  Joseph  walks  by  their  side. 

A  modern  traveler  has  said  that  if  Joseph  and  Mary 
were  modern  Bedouins,  Joseph  would  he  riding  the  ass, 
while  Mary  would  walk  and  carry  the  child.  But  we  are 
glad  to  believe  that  Joseph  and  Mary  had  very  little  in 
common  with  the  modern  Bedouin,  and  that  the  western 
ideas  of  respect  to  motherhood  and  womankind  prevailed  in 
that  journey  undertaken  so  long  ago  to  the  land  of  Egypt. 
In  this  little  village  to  which  we  have  come,  tradition  says 
the  virgin  and  child  once  rested,  and  the  tree  under  which 
she  rested — a  large,  spreading  sycamore,  with  decayed 
trunk  and  gnarled  limbs  —  is  still  pointed  out.  Of  course, 
even  the  most  credulous  know  that  this  particular  tree  must 
have  been  planted  many  centuries  after  that  famous  journey 
was  undertaken ;  but  it  is  very  certain  that  a  most  ancient 
tradition  connects  the  Holy  Family  with  this  very  spot,  and 
though  it  is  known  that  this  tree  was  not  planted  until  1672, 


AN  INTERESTING   TREE   AND   ITS   STORY. 


401 


and  that  its  predecessor  died  in  1665,  it  is  not  b}^  any  means 
impossible  that  near  this  spot  came  the  Blessed  Mother  and 
the  Holy  Child,  with  their  stalwart  protector,  from  the  land 
of  Judea. 


A   BEDOUIN    FAMILY   ON   A   JO-URNEY. 


The  w^ater  for  the  garden  in  which  the  tree  is  planted 
comes  from  a  shallow  pool  near  by,  and,  as  we  visited  the 
spot,  a  blindfolded  ox  was  pacing  his  weary  round,  raising 
the  water  by  a  series  of  endless  buckets,  which  poured 
their  contents  into  the  ditches  that  irrigated  the  garden. 
Unlike  most  of  the  water  in  this  vicinity,  which  is  brackish, 


403        A  spider's  veil  and  what  it  concealed. 

the  water  from  this  reservoir  is  sweet  and  good  for  drinking, 
and  before  we  left  the  garden  we  took  a  draught  from  the 
same  pool  at  which  the  Virgin  and  her  husband  may  have 
quenched  their  thirst  eighteen  hundred  years  ago. 

Tradition  has  been  busy  with  this  place,  as  with  every 
other  that  is  connected  with  the  Holy  Family,  and  one 
pretty  legend  tells  us  that  Avhen  persecution  was  rife,  the 
mother  concealed  herself  Avith  the  child  in  the  hollow  trunk 
of  the  tree  which  stood  on  this  spot,  and  that  a  spider  wove 
its  web  so  closely  across  the  opening  that  no  lynx-eyed  per- 
secutor could  see  the  mother  and  the  child  beneath  the 
spider's  veil. 

Half  a  mile  beyond  this  garden  we  see  all  that  is  left  of 
the  famous  Heliopolis,  or  the  City  of  the  gun.  This  is  the 
place  which  the  Bible  calls  On,  and  here  we  are  told  that 
Pharaoh  gave  Joseph  the  daughter  of  a  priest  of  Heliopolis 
in  marriage.  In  early  days  the  Temple  of  the  Sun  at  Helio- 
polis was  the  most  famous  sacred  place  in  all  Egypt,  and  was 
the  scene  of  the  most  notable  ceremonies  connected  with  the 
worship  of  the  sun.  No  less  than  12,913  priests  and  officials 
were  connected  with  this  temple,  it  is  said.  As  one  thinks 
of  the  former  magnificence  of  this  spot  and  contrasts  it  with 
its  present  decay,  he  realizes  how  absolutely  Time  destroys 
the  mightiest  works  of  man. 

Few  places  have  been  so  utterly  wiped  out  of  existence. 
All  that  is  left  now  of  this  famous  temple  is  a  single 
obelisk,  and  even  that  is  not  impressive,  for  it  is  half 
buried  in  the  accumulated  mud  and  soil  of  the  centuries, 
which  have  been  deposited  around  it.  On  two  sides  the  bees 
have  built  their  cells  in  the  deep-cut  hieroglyphics,  so  as  to 
fill  them  up  completely  and  obliterate  the  characters,  and 
the  onlv  signs  of  life  about  this  temple,  which  once  swarmed 
with  thousands  of  priests  and  myriads  of  worshipers,  are  two 


THE   RAVAGES   OF  TIME.  403 

or  three  blind,  lame,  halt,  and  loathsome  beggars,  who  limp 
after  one  at  every  step,  and  hold  out  filthy  hands,  distorted 
and  twisted  by  disease,  for  backsheesh. 

Companion  obelisks  to  the  one  which  stands  here  have 
been  taken  by  successive  conquerors  of  Egypt  to  grace  their 
capitals,  and  this  alone  is  left  to  tell  the  tale  of  the  glory  of 
Heliopolis.  On  this  obelisk,  doubtless,  Joseph  looked; 
beneath  the  shadows  of  this  monument  and  its  tall  com- 
panions he  led  the  Mother  and  Child.  To  the  temple,  which 
stood  on  this  spot  in  its  more  than  royal  magnificence,  came 
the  Pharaohs,  one  after  another.  Every  Pharaoh  considered 
himself  the  human  embodiment  of  the  sun,  and  it  is  only 
natural  that  he  should  have  brought  offerings  worthy  of  a 
Pharaoh  to  this  magnificent  temple,  to  increase  with  every 
reign  of  every  dynasty  its  growing  magnificence. 

There  is  to-day  in  the  National  Museum  at  London  a 
papyrus  which  gives  a  marvelous  list  of  presents  donated  to 
this  temple  by  Rameses  III  alone.  But  now,  for  more  than 
two  thousand  years,  Heliopolis  has  been  but  a  name.  Even 
the  famous  university  which  once  flourished  here,  though  es- 
tablished long  after  the  temple  had  ceased  to  exist,  and  only  a 
hundred  years  before  the  time  of  Christ,  is  utterly  obliterated. 
Nations  have  come  and  gone,  kingdoms  have  waxed  and 
waned,  steadily  the  star  of  empire  has  moved  westward,  but 
this  one  lonely  monolith  remains,  half  imbedded  in  mud, 
not  even  respected  by  the  bees  themselves,  resorted  to  by 
only  a  few  tourists,  on  whom  beggars  fatten  —  this  only 
remains  of  the  magnificent  City  of  the  Sun. 

Our  next  excursion  shall  be  to  the  Bulak  Museum.  As  a 
rule,  the  traveler  finds  a  museum  a  tiresome  weariness  to  the 
flesh,  unless  he  is  engaged  in  some  particular  branch  of 
research  and  desires  to  make  use  of  the  treasures  which  the 
museum  contains,  in  his  particular  investigations  ;  he  is  apt 


404 


A  WONDERFUL   MUSEUM. 


to  wander  through  the  endless  corridors  in  a  stupid  and  per- 
functory way,  casting  a  glance  to  the  right  and  the  left,  for 
the  sake  of  performing  his  duty,  and  being  able  to  say  that 
he  has  "  done  "  the  museum.  Eve  and  brain,  as  well  as  feet 
become  tired,  the  confined  atmosphere  at  last  becomes  unen- 
durable, and  one  vows  that  he  will  see  no  more  curiosities 
"  while  the  world  standeth,"  if  they  are  to  be  bought  at  the 
expense  of  such  utter  weariness  and  ennui.     Then,  as  one 


IX   THE   BULAK   MUSEUM. 


emerges  into  the  open  air,  he  has  a  dim  remembrance  of  a 
tomb  here  and  a  scarabeus  there,  of  a  collection  of  arrow 
heads  over  yonder,  of  a  case  of  butterflies  on  the  north  wall, 
and  another  of  ancient  coins  on  the  south  wall.  But  where 
the  butterflies  first  flew,  or  where  the  coins  passed  current, 
or  who  occupied  the  tombs,  or  at  whom  the  arrow  heads 
were  pointed  —  of  these  details  he  is  apt  to  have  a  very 
mixed  and  hazy  idea. 

But  the  museum  at  Bulak  is  not  an  ordinary  museum  by 
any  means.     The  most  wearied  and  travel-hardened  tourist 


ANCIENT   TREASURES,  ANTIQUITIES,  AND   MUMMIES.      405 

finds  here  enough  treasures  to  keep  his  mind  alert,  and  to 
drive  the  weariness  from  his  brain  and  his  feet. 

"We  did  not  linger,  however,  for  many  minutes  oter  the 
bronze  cats  and  jackals,  the  ibises  in  copper,  or  the  shrine  of 
Osiris.  We  did  not  take  any  great  joy  in  the  sight  of  the 
green  porcelain  deity  in  the  shape  of  a  distorted  child  stand- 
ing upon  two  crocodiles  and  strangling  two  snakes,  neither 
did  we  go  into  raptures  over  the  dog-faced  ape,  the  emblem 
of  the  god  Thoth,  or  even  over  the  golden  diadems  and 
chains  and  alabaster  vases,  and  granite  hawks  with  human 
heads,  for  we  were  anxious  to  spend  all  the  time  at  our  dis- 
posal in  the  apartment  of  the  royal  mummies. 

Until  within  the  memory  of  man}'  of  mv  youngest  read- 
ers, the  existence  of  these  mummies  was  not  suspected  by 
the  civilized  world.  The  Arabs,  to  be  sure,  knew  of  them, 
but  as  the  royal  tombs  furnished  them  with  a  perfect  mine 
of  curios,  seals,  coins,  statuettes,  and  rolls  of  papyrus,  they 
carefully  concealed  their  knowledge  from  investigating  trav. 
elers.  At  last  the  antiquities  were  found,  and  treasures 
such  as  the  world  had  not  believed  to  exist,  were  unearthed. 
As  we  enter  the  museum  we  see  several  mummies  and  coifins 
belonging  to  priests  and  kings  and  princes  of  the  twenty-first 
dvnastv.  But  this  was  an  inglorious  dvnastv,  so  history 
tells  us.  The  priest-kings  were  unable  to  enforce  their 
claims,  and  they  are  particularly  interesting  to  us  only  on 
account  of  their  connection  with  Solomon ;  for  it  was  with 
this  dynasty  that  Solomon  made  affinity,  and  took  Pha- 
raoh's daughter  and  brought  her  into  the  city  of  David. 
It  was  a  Pharaoh  of  this  dynasty,  too,  that  took  Gezer 
and  burned  it  with  fire,  and  slew  the  Canaanites  that 
dwelt  in  the  city,  and  gave  it  for  a  present  to  his  daughter, 
Solomon's  wife,  as  we  are  told  in  the  ninth  chapter  of 
I   Kings.     In   the   time  of   these   Pharaohs,    Solomon   had 


406  A  ROOM   FULL   OF   ROYAL   MUMMIES. 

horses  and  linen  yarn  brought  out  of  Egypt.  We  are  told 
that  an  Egyptian  chariot  in  those  days  cost  650  shekels  of 
silver,  and  a  horse  150  shekels. 

As  we  pass  on  further  into  this  most  interesting  funereal 
apartment,  we  find  priests  and  kings  of  older  dynasties. 
Here  is  the  coffin  of  Thothmes  III.  These  were  more  glori- 
ous Pharaohs  than  their  successors.  They  flourished  more 
than  3,500  years  ago,  extended  their  conquests  as  far  as  the 
Tigris,  exacted  heavy  tributes  from  the  nations  whom  they 
vanquished,  and  embellished  Thebes,  their  capital,  with  mag- 
nificent edifices. 

But  most  interesting  of  all  in  this  marvelous  room  are 
the  coffins  and  the  mummies  of  Sethi  I  and  his  son  Rameses 
II,  for  these  are  the  "  Pharaohs  of  the  Oppression,"  whose 
cruel  story  is  told  to  us  so  graphically  in  the  Book  of  Exodus, 

Sethi,  it  is  known,  caused  his  son  Eameses  to  be  educated 
with  the  other  young  Egyptian  nobles,  and  it  is  altogether 
probable  that  one  of  these  Egyptian  nobles  was  Moses,  the 
great  Lawgiver  of  Israel.  How  Pharaoh's  daughter  found 
him  as  she  went  to  bathe  in  the  Nile  ;  how,  by  the  sister's 
gentle  ruse,  the  child's  mother  was  called  to  be  the  nurse, 
we  all  remember.  Who  has  not  felt  glad  when  the  princess 
said  to  the  anxious  mother  :  "  Take  this  child  and  nurse  it  for 
me,  and  I  will  give  thee  thy  wages."  ]^ever  was  such  a 
congenial  task  given  to  a  nurse  before  I  "  And  the  woman 
took  the  child  and  nursed  it,  and  the  child  grew,  and  she 
brought  him  unto  Pharaoh's  daughter,  and  he  became  her 
son,  and  she  called  his  name  Moses,  and  she  said  :  Because  I 
drew  him  out  of  the  water."  ISTow,  after  reading  this  brief 
Biblical  story,  let  us  turn  to  our  museum  again.  Look  into 
that  glass  case.  There,  in  that  royal  gilded  coffin,  lies  a 
shrunken,  withered  mummy.  The  lower  limbs  are  yet 
wrapped  in  the  cerements  of  the  grave,  but  the  skull  is  ex- 


o 

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MUMMY   OF  MOSES  S   PLAYFELLOW. 


409 


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posed  and  still  perfect.  The  long,  hooked,  Roman  nose,  the 
deep-sunken  eyeballs,  the  heavy,  square  jaw,  tell  of  the  war- 
rior and  the  tyrant.     There  is  Moses's  playfellow. 

For  more  than  three  thousand  years 
he  lav  silent  in  the  earth,  until  at  last  the 
spade  of  the  antiquarian  broke  into  his 
dark  resting  place,  his  coffin  was  opened, 
and  he  was  found  to  tell  us  with  his  firm, 
determined  lips,  the  story  of  the  awful 
oppression  and  tyranny  which  he  inaugu- 
rated so  many  centuries  ago. 

'  "Rameses  II,  the  ''  Pharaoh  of  the  Op- 
pression," died  about  3,300  years  ago.  His 
body  Avas  embalmed,  placed  on  board  the 
royal  barge,  and  floated  up  the  Xile  to 
the  Theban  Citv  of  the  Dead,  where  it 
was  laid  to  rest  in  the  great  sarcophagus 
which  had  been  cut  from  the  limestone 
of  Biban-el-Mulouk.  The  location  of  the 
tomb  was  well  knoAvn  then,  l^ecause  it  had 
been  the  habit  of  the  monarch  to  visit 
it  frequently  during  its  excavation,  but 
for  centuries  the  exact  spot  remained  a 
mio^htv  secret. 

"  According  to  custom,  after  the  burial 
the  doorway  to  the  tomb  was  walled  up 
and  so  disguised  bv  rocks   and  sand   as  ^^^^   length  view 

.         .  "  OF     MUMMY   OF    KING 

to  make  it  impossible  for  any  Init  the  pharaoh.ramesesii. 
priests  to  discover  its  whereabouts.  It  (The  pharaoh  of  the  op- 
was   not  until   ISSl  that  the  real  hiding  pression.) 

place  was  discovered.  For  a  numlDer  of  years  the  officials  of 
the  Bulak  Museum  had  seen  funeral  offerino-g,  and  other 
antiquities,  brought  from  Thebes  by  returning  tourists,  which 


<4t 


n 


m 


W-: 


mrJ 


'  Edward  L.  Wilson  in  The  Centurv. 


410  FINDING   THE   MUMMY    OF   PHARAOH. 

they  kneAv  belonged  to  the  dynasty  of  Rameses  II,  of  his 
father  Sethi  I,  and  of  his  grandfather  Rameses  I.  The 
clear-headed  officials  aro^ued  that  tlie  mummies  of  those 
royal  personages  must  have  been,  discovered  by  some  one. 
The  Director-General  of  the  Museum  at  once  organized  a 
detective  force  to  help  him  discover  the  hiding-place. 

''  Arrest  after  arrest  was  made  among  the  natives,  and 
the  bastinado  was  applied  to  many  a  calloused  sole  which 
had  never  felt  either  shoe  or  sandal.  Early  in  1881  circum- 
stantial evidence  pointed  to  an  Arab  named  Ahmed  Abd-er- 
Rasoul  as  the  one  who  knew  more  than  he  would  tell.  He 
was  arrested  and  confined  in  prison  for  many  months,  mean- 
time suffering  the  bastinado  repeatedly.  Finally  his  brother 
made  a  clean  breast  of  the  whole  affair,  and  was  induced  to 
conduct  the  Curator  of  the  Museum  to  the  hiding-place  so 
long  looked  for. 

"  Up  the  slope  of  a  western  mountain  a  huge  isolated 
rock  was  found.  Behind  this  a  spot  was  reached  w^here  the 
stones  appeared  to  have  been  arranged  '  by  hand '  rather 
than  scattered  by  some  upheaval  of  nature.  Arabs  were 
employed  to  remove  the  loose  stones  from  the  well  into 
which  they  had  been  thrown.  When  the  bottom  of  the 
shaft  was  reached  a  subterranean  passage  was  found  which 
ran  westward  about  twenty-four  feet,  and  then  turned 
directly  northward,  continuing  into  the  heart  of  the  moun- 
tain for  about  two  hundred  feet.  This  passage  terminated 
in  a  mortuary  chamber  about  thirteen  hy  twenty-three  feet 
in  extent,  and  six  feet  in  height. 

"  There  was  found  the  mummy  of  Rameses  II,  the 
Pharaoh  of  the  Oppression,  and  his  identity  was  subse- 
cjuently  established  beyond  question.  In  the  same  chamber 
were  found  nearly  forty  other  mummies  of  kings,  queens, 
princes,  and  priests. 


HOW   PHARAOH   LOOKED. 


411 


"The  following  June  the   muiiimy  of   Eameses  II  was 


released   from  its   bandages. 


After   the   unfolding  of   the 


\ 


':^^^i^  i-.,'^^- 


mummy  the  merciless  camera  was  turned  upon  it,  and  in 
that  sort  of  picture,  which  is  notorious  for  never  flattering 
nor  ever  detracting, 
we  have  a  proof  of 
the  very  original 
himself,  enabling  all 
to  'see  how  Pha- 
raoh looked.'  No 
doubt  exists  about 
the  genuineness  of 
the  mummv,  for,  in 
black  ink,  written 
upon  the  mummy 
case  by  the  high 
priest  and  King  Pin- 
otem,  is  the  record 
testifying  to  the 
identity  of  the  royal  |:p^ 
contents.  The  cov- 
erings were  all  re- 
moved by  the  care- 
ful hands  of  one  of 
the  professors  of  the 
Bulak  Museum,  in  the  presence  of  the  Khedive  and  other 
distinguished  persons." 

The  head  is  long,  and  small  in  proportion  to  the  body. 
The  top  of  the  skull  is  quite  bare.  On  the  temples  there  are  a 
few  sparse  hairs,  but  at  the  poll  the  hair  is  quite  thick.  White 
at  the  time  of  death,  they  have  been  dyed  a  light  yellow  by 
the  spices  used  in  embalming.  The  forehead  is  low  and  nar- 
row ;  the  eyebrows  are  thick  and  white ;  the  eyes  are  small 
25 


WHERE  THE  MUJIMY  OF  PHARAOH  "WAS  FOUND. 
ENTRAJSICE   TO  THE    TOMB. 


412 


DESCRIPTION   OF   THE   MUMMY   OF   PHARAOH. 


and  close  together ;  the  nose  is  long,  arched,  and  thin,  and 
slightly  crushed  at  the  tip  by  the  pressure  of  the  bandages. 
The  temples  are  sunken ;  the  cheek-bones  ver\^  prominent ; 
the  ears  round,  and  ]iierced  like  those  of  a  woman  for  the 


PROFILE  OP  KDsG   PHARAOH,    RAlfESES  II. 
(The  Pharaoh  of  the  Oppression.) 

wearing  of  ear-rings.  The  jaw-bone  is  massive  and  strong ; 
the  mouth  small,  and  when  first  exposed  was  full  of  some 
kind  of  black  paste.  This  paste  being  partly  removed  dis- 
closed much  worn  teeth,  which,  however,  are  white  and 
well  preserved.  The  mustache  and  beard  are  white  and 
thin.     They  seem  to  have  been  kept  shaven  during  life,  but 


LOOKING  INTO  PHARAOH  S  FACE. 


413 


were  probably  allowed  to  grow  during  the  king's  last  illness, 
or  they  may  have  grown  after  death.  The  skin  is  of  earthy 
brown,  spotted  with  black.  Finally,  it  may  be  said,  the  face 
of  the  mummy  gives  a  fair  idea  of  the  face  of  the  living 
king.      The   expression   is   unintellectual,    perhaps   slightly 


FRONT  VIEW   OF   PHAKAOII   IMMEDIATEIA'   AFTER   UNWINDING    THE   MUMMY. 

(From  a  special  photograph.) 

animal ;  but  even  under  the  somewhat  grotesque  disguise  of 
mummification,  there  is  plainly  to  be  seen  an  air  of  sovereign 
majesty,  of  resolve,  and  of  pride.  The  rest  of  the  body  Is  as 
well  preserved  as  the  head ;  but,  in  consequence  of  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  tissues,  its  external  aspect  is  less  lifelike.  The 
neck  is  no  thicker  than  the  vertebral  column.  The  chest  is 
broad  ;  the  shoulders  are  square ;  the  arms  are  crossed  ui30ii 


414  A  WICKED   RECORD. 

the  breast ;  the  hands  are  small  and  dyed  with  henna.  The 
legs  and  thighs  are  fleshless;  the  feet  are  long,  slender, 
somewhat  flat-soled,  and  dyed,  like  the  hands,  with  henna. 
The  corpse  is  that  of  an  old  man,  but  of  a  vigorous  and 
robust  old  man.  We  know,  indeed,  that  Rameses  II  reigned 
for  sixty-seven  years,  and  that  he  must  have  been  nearly  one 
hundred  years  old  when  he  died. 

He  had  his  good  points,  to  be  sure,  had  Rameses  the 
Great.  He  exhibited  great  zeal  as  a  builder,  as  a  patron  of 
art  and  of  sciences,  and  erected  monuments  of  victory  in 
various  parts  of  Egypt.  But  his  monuments  have  all  crum- 
bled, his  buildings  are  leveled  with  the  ground,  the  arts  and 
sciences  which  he  encouraged  are  outgrown,  and  have  been 
succeeded  by  nobler  arts  and  sciences.  But  the  one  thing 
that  he  will  be  known  for  in  all  the  future  history  of  the 
world,  is  that  which  is  recorded  of  him  in  the  first  Book  of 
Exodus.  Surely,  it  is  true,  in  this  case,  that  "  the  evil  that 
men  do  lives  after  them,  while  the  good  is  oft  interred  with 
their  bones." 

"  And  the  children  of  Israel  were  fruitful,  and  increased 
abundantly,  and  multiplied,  and  waxed  exceeding  mighty ; 
and  the  land  was  filled  with  them. 

"  Now  there  arose  up  a  new  king  over  Egypt,  which 
knew  not  Joseph. 

"  And  he  said  unto  his  people,  Behold,  the  people  of  the 
children  of  Israel  are  more  and  mightier  than  we ; 

"  Come  on,  let  us  deal  wisely  with  them,  lest  they  multi- 
ply, and  it  come  to  pass,  that,  when  there  falleth  out  any 
war,  they  join  also  unto  our  endinies,  and  fight  against  us, 
and  so  get  them  up  out  of  the  land. 

"  Therefore,  they  did  set  over  them  task-masters  to  afflict 
them  with  their  burdens.  And  they  built  for  Pharaoh 
treasure  cities,  Pithom  and  Raamses. 


HOW   ARE  THE   MIGHTY   FALLEN.  415 

"  But  the  more  they  afflicted  them,  the  more  the}^  multi- 
plied and  grew.  And  they  grieved  because  of  the  children 
of  Israel. 

"  And  the  Egyptians  made  the  children  of  Israel  to  serve 
with  rigour ; 

"  And  they  made  their  lives  bitter  with  hard  bondage,  in 
mortar,  and  in  brick,  and  in  all  manner  of  service  in  the 
field ;  all  their  service,  wherein  they  made  them  serve,  was 
with  rigour. 

"  And  Pharaoh  charged  all  his  people,  saying.  Every  son 
that  is  born  ye  shall  cast  into  the  river,  and  every  daughter 
ye  shall  save  alive." 

A  sad  record,  surely,  is  this  for  any  man  to  leave  after 
him,  and  yet  we  can  believe  it  of  this  old  Pharaoh,  as  we 
see  him  grim  and  determined  even  in  death,  lying  in  his 
coffin,  which  is  exposed  to  the  curious  gaze  of  every  sight- 
seer. None  so  poor  now  as  to  do  reverence  to  this  ancient 
ruler  of  the  world.  He,  at  whose  beck  kings  rallied  to  his 
standards,  or  concluded  peace  at  his  command,  lies  there,  a 
mere  spectacle  for  every  curiosity  monger.  The  poorest 
vagabond  of  the  realm  can  now  criticise  his  hooked  nose  and 
his  retreating  forehead,  and  his  long  and  scrawny  neck  with 
impunity.  The  one  on  whom  kings  dared  not  look  without 
trembling,  is  now  known  only  as  a  persecutor  and  oppressor, 
who  is  hated  and  despised  by  Jews  and  Christians  alike, 
though  he  has  lain  in  his  coffin  for  more  than  three  thou- 
sand years.  The  old  rule  is  forgotten,  and  no  good  and 
only  evil  is  spoken  of  this  man  who  has  been  so  long  dead. 

Near  by  is  the  coffin  and  the  mummy  of  his  father,  Sethi 
I,  who  also  shows  in  the  very  contour  of  his  head  that  he 
was  a  Pharaoh  born  to  rule.  And  here  is  the  scriptural 
account  of  the  end  of  this  man  whose  mummy  we  see  before 


41G 


WHERE   IS   THE   PHARAOH   OF   THE   EXODUS 


US.  "  And  it  came  to  pass  in  the  process  of  time,  that  the 
king  of  Egypt  died,  and  the  children  of  Israel  sighed  by  rea- 
son of  the  bondage,  and  they  cried,  and  their  cry  came  up 
unto  God,  and  God  heard  their  groaning,  and  God  remem- 
bered his  covenant  with  Abraham,  with  Isaac,  and  with 
Jacob,  and  God  looked  upon  the  children  of  Israel,  and  God 
had  respect  unto  them." 

We  know  the  tragic  history  that  followed,  the  groanings, 
the  oppression,  the  plague,  the  deliverance,  the  passage  of 
the  Red  Sea,  the  overwhelming  of  Pharaoh  and  his  chariots 
in  the  waves.  The  Pharaoh  of  the  oppression  lies  before  us 
in  the  museum  of  Bulak ;  but  the  Pharaoh  of  the  Exodus» 
whom  the  Bible  declares  found  a  watery  grave  under  the 
Ped  Sea's  waves,  has  never  been  found  among  the  royal 
mummies  of  Egypt. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

OX  THE  BANKS  OF  THE  NILE  — OUR  CLIMB  TO  THE  TOP 
OF  THE  GREAT  PYRAMIDS  — BESET  BY  ARABS  — AMUS- 
ING ADVENTURES  AND  EXPERIENCES. 

An  Ancient  Proverb  —  Our  First  View  of  the  Pyramids  —  Man-made 
Mountains  —  Monuments  Whicli  Never  Disappoint  tlie  Traveler  — 
Could  Tliey  be  Built  To-day?  — A  Blow  at  the  Conceit  of  the  Nine- 
teenth Century  —  Comfort  for  the  Optimist  —  Why  the  Pyramids  were 
Built  and  How  — The  Tombs  of  the  Pharaohs  — A  Small  Pyramid  for  a 
Short  Reign  —  A  More  Intimate  Acquaintance  —  The  Road  to  Cheops 
—  "  Mafish  Backsheesh  "  —Unnecessary  Attention  —  The  Comanches  of 
the  Desert  — An  Appeal  to  the  Sheik  — Getting  Up-stairs  — How  the 
Stout  Lady  Reached  the  Top  —  Desolation,  Dearth,  and  Death  — Life- 
giving  Father  Nile  — Beautiful  Cairo  — An  Ancient  Story  of  the  Pyra- 
mids—  Avaricious  Arabs  —  Destroying  the  Pyramids  —  Looking  Down 
on  Forty  Centuries — A  Ride  on  a  Camel  to  the  Sphinx. 


|VERYTIIIXG  fears  time,  but  time 
fears  the  pyramids,"  is  an  old 
Arabian  proverb  that  has  been 
current  in  the  Land  of  the  Pyra- 
mids for  more  than  seven  hundred 
years.  Our  first  glimpse  of  these 
time-feared  monuments  was  from 
the  railway  train  as  we  ap- 
proached Cairo.  We  knew  that 
somewhere  off  in  the  distance, 
out  of  the  sandy  desert,  arose 
these  marvelous  monuments  of  a 
past  age,  and  for  some  time  before  the  domes  and  minarets 
of  Cairo  appeared  in  sight,  we  strained  our  eyes  to  get  the 
first  glimpse  of  them. 

At  length  a  bend  in  the  road  brought  them  into  view, 

(417) 


418       ONE  OF  THE  WONDERS  OF  THE  WORLD. 

somewhat  dwarfed  by  distance,  to  be  sure,  but  unmistakably 
the  pyramids  of  picture-book  and  fancy,  of  boyhood's 
dream  and  manhood's  anticipation.  They  are  so  unique  and 
unapproached  by  any  other  species  of  architecture,  so  easily 
represented,  and  so  readily  compassed  by  the  imagination 
that  one  thinks  he  is  seeing  old,  familiar  friends,  as  they  first 
loom  up  on  the  horizon.  The  pyramids  of  the  old  geogra- 
phies and  of  more  modern  photographs  are  here  before  us, 
in  solid,  substantial  stone.  They  look  as  we  thought  they 
looked.  They  do  not  surprise  us  by  their  vastness  on  the 
one  hand,  nor  disappoint  us  by  their  insignificance  as  com- 
pared with  previous  anticipations,  on  the  other. 

For  almost  every  other  famous  sight  one  is  somewhat 
unprepared,  however  familiar  he  may  be  with  pictures  and 
descriptions  and  measurements.  The  Taj  Mahal  of  India, 
for  instance,  goes  beyond  the  greatest  expectations.  No 
photograph  can  tell  the  traveler  of  its  graceful  lines,  its 
aspiring  minarets,  its  dazzling  white  marble,  or  its  incrusta- 
tions of  precious  stones.  The  temples  of  Southern  India  are 
only  feebly  portrayed  by  photographs.  Of  the  Colosseum, 
one  can  get  but  a  sectional  and  partial  view,  and  one  has  to 
stand  within  its  vast  sweep  of  stones  to  appreciate  its  magni- 
tude. Saint  Peter's  disappoints  most  travelers  by  its  seem- 
ing want  of  size,  as  compared  with  his  great  expectations. 
But  for  the  pyramids  one  is  well  prepared.  Not  that  they 
do  not  grow  on  the  imagination.  Almost  every  stupendous 
work  of  architecture  does  thus  improve  upon  acquaintance. 
The  mind  must  have  some  time  to  adjust  itself  to  its  propor- 
tions, and  the  longer  one  gazes  upon  the  pyramids,  and  the 
nearer  he  approaches  their  towering  bulk,  the  more  im- 
pressed is  he  with  these  wonders  of  the  ancient  and  modern 
world,  the  more  he  marvels  how  they  could  possibly  be 
built  in  rude  ages  when  labor-saving  machinery  was  compar- 


TIME-DEFYING    MONUMENTS. 


419 


atively  unknown,  the  more  he  begins  to  suspect  that,  after 
all,  these  ages  which  could  have  built  the  pyramids  were  not 
so  rude  as  his  modern  conceit  is  prone  to  suppose. 

It  is  doubtful  if  they  could  be  built  to-day  with  all  the 
appliances  that  modern  invention  has  rendered  familiar, 
with  the  aid  of  steam  and  electricity,  and  every  contrivance 
which  the  ingenuity  of  four  thousand  years  has  been  able  to 
su])ply.     It  is  doubtful  if  those  vast  blocks  of  stone  could  be 


^  ■  ^^  ff=^^-- 


THE   GREAT   PYRAMIDS. 

quarried  or  transported,  or  raised  to  their  present  position, 
or  laid  so  accurately,  by  any  master  mason  of  to-day. 

AYhen  Ave  think  that  the  building  of  the  pyramids  was 
only  an  index  to  the  civihzation  of  the  centuries  that  saw 
them  erected,  our  inflated  notions  concerning  the  importance 
of  the  nineteenth  century  in  the  roll  of  the  ages  grows 
somewhat  smaller.  The  pvramids  are  like  isolated  peaks  in 
some  vast  sea,  which  still  remain  above  the  surface  to  tell  of 
the  mighty  continents  which  have  been  submerged.  Ever}'-- 
tliing  perishable  has  been  swept  away,  cities  and  farms, 
canals   and  roadwavs,   the    accumulations   of    centuries   of 


420  WHY   WERE   THE   PYRAMIDS   BUILT  ? 

wealth,  the  arts  and  sciences  of  the  ages  long  gone  by,  are 
all  burietl  under  the  sand  of  the  desert.  The  pyramids 
alone  remain  to  tell  us  what  the  world  then  was,  and  to 
dwarf  the  pigmy  products  and  enterprises  of  the  present 
day.  Surely  there  is  a  law  of  degeneration,  as  well  as  a  law 
of  evolution  at  work  in  the  world.  In  some  respects  the 
world  is  sroino-  backward  instead  of  forward. 

In  some  particulars,  we  cannot  equal  our  great-great- 
great  ancestors  who  flourished  in  Moses'  time,  but  the  op- 
timist may  well  believe, — and  there  is  nothing  to  dispel  the 
pleasant  thought, —  that  if  in  material  grandeur  we  cannot 
compete  with  the  ages  of  the  past,  in  moral  and  spiritual 
matters  this  old  world  never  attained  such  an  eminence  as 
since  the  time  when  the  light  from  the  face  of  Christ  shone 
upon  her.  If  we  build  no  pyramids  in  these  days,  we  do 
build  hospitals  and  colleges  and  orphan  asylums  on  a  vast 
scale.  If  there  are  no  magnificent  palaces  of  the  Pharaohs, 
there  are  innumerable  temples  consecrated  to  the  relief  of 
suffering  and  the  uplifting  of  humanity.  If  we  can  erect  no 
Cheops  in  these  days,  it  is  at  least  true  that  we  do  not  sacri- 
fice the  lives  of  a  hundred  thousand  peasants  every  year  in 
the  erection  of  a  senseless  funereal  monument,  built  to 
gratify  individual  vanity ;  for  it  is  very  certain  that  the  pyr- 
amids of  Giizeh,  and  all  the  other  pyramids  that  have  made 
the  land  of  EgjqDt  famous,  are  simply  funereal  monuments, 
huge  tombs  for  the  kings ;  and,  though  some  fanciful  writers 
have  professed  to  find  in  them  the  embodiment  of  all  the 
sciences,  the  standards  of  weights  and  measures,  and  even  a 
prophecy  of  the  birth  of  Christ,  these  theories  have  very 
little  weight  among  scholars  of  the  present  day,  and  it  is 
generally  believed  that  these  huge  monuments  were  simply 
receptacles  for  the  mummies  of  the  Pharaohs  who  Ijuilt 
them. 


MISERY  VENDERS  AND  VILE   IMPOSTORS.  421 

Each  succeeding  Pharaoh,  began  work  on  his  own  tomb 
as  soon  as  he  ascended  the  throne.  At  first  the  monument 
which  he  built  over  his  sarcophagus  was  comparatively 
small,  and  if  he  died  after  a  short  reign,  it  remained  a  small 
and  insignificant  pyramid.  This  accounts  for  the  smaller 
pyramids  which  dot  the  desert.  If,- however,  his  reign  was 
longer,  he  added  one  course  of  stone  to  another,  building 
always  from  the  outside,  and  in  such  a  way  that  the  pyr- 
amid would  be  complete  in  itself  whenever  he  might  die, 
after  the  course  of  stone  which  had  been  begun  was  finished. 
Every  succeeding  incrustation  of  stones  was,  of  course,  a 
larger  and  more  stupendous  undertaking  than  the  last,  and 
it  was  only  the  Pharaohs  who  lived  to  the  greatest  age  who 
could  construct  such  monuments  as  Cheops  and  Cephron. 

But  we  have  lingered  quite  too  long  already  in.  the  dis- 
tance. It  can  be  imagined  that  an  excursion  to  the  pyra- 
mids was  one  of  the  very  first  pleasures  that  we  enjoyed  in 
Cairo.  We  could  not  see  those  giants  looming  up  in  the 
distance  without  desiring  more  intimate  acquaintance,  and 
so,  taking  a  carriage  at  our  hotel,  a  drive  of  an  hour  and 
a  half  brought  us  to  their  very  base.  We  had  heard  har- 
rowing tales  of  the  importunate  beggar,  and  so  we  had 
practiced,  before  leaving  the  hotel,  and  on  the  route,  the  im- 
portant phrase,  "Mafish  backsheesh,"  which  was  all  we  knew 
and  all  we  needed  to  know  of  Arabic.  At  the  same  time  we 
steeled  our  hearts  against  all  kinds  of  miseries  and  persistent 
pleadings,  comforting  ourselves  in  our  hardheartedness  with 
the  fact  that  all  our  friends  and  all  our  guide  books  told  us 
that  these  misery-venders  were  mostly  imposters,  and  that  it 
was  the  most  mistaken  kind  of  charity  to  heed  their  im- 
portunate cries ;  that  some  of  them  were  very  well-to-do  in 
the  world,  and  were  better  able  to  give  backsheesh  to  their 
victims  than  was  the  average  traveler  to  give  it  to  them. 


422 


NEARING   THE   PYRAMIDS. 


The  road  from  Cairo  to  Cheops  is,  for  this  desert  land,  a 
very  pleasant  road,  being  broad  and  well  made,  and  lined 
with  trees  on  either  side.  The  pyramids  occupy  a  low 
plateau  about  fifteen  hundred  yards  square ;  and  a  con- 
siderable ascent  leads  from  the  level  road  to  the  foot  of  the 
great  pyramid. 


w^^^'%-f:^^^^^ 


BY   THE   ROADSIDE   IN   EGYPT. 


Long  before  we  reach  this  spot,  however,  our  troubles 
with  the  Bedouins  begin.  For  rods  they  run  along  beside 
the  carriage,  some  on  two  legs,  some  on  one,  and  some  on 
three  or  four ;  for  crutches  and  canes  are  part  of  the  stock  in 
trade  of  these  bee-o-ars,  with  all  kinds  of  deformities  and 
diseases 


-oo" 


the  more  disgusting  and  loathsome,  the  larger  is 


BESET  BY   BEGGARS,  423 

their  capital.  In  some  places  they  even  strew  unnecessary 
sand  and  gravel  before  the  horses  for  the  alleged  purpose  of 
making  it  more  easy  for  them  to  ascend  the  hill,  but  for  the 
real  purpose  of  having  a  pretext  for  maldng  some  exorbitant 
demand  on  the  traveler.  However,  we  are  able  to  resist 
these  importunities,  and  it  is  only  when  the  carriage  actually 
stops,  and  we  are  obliged  to  dismount,  that  matters  become 
serious.  Here  we  are  surrounded  apparently  by  all  the 
Bedouins  of  the  desert,  congregated  together  for  the  purpose 
of  boosting  our  precious  selves  up  the  pyramid.  They  sur- 
round us  like  a  tribe  of  hostile  Comanches  on  the  war-path. 
They  gesticulate  and  scream,  seize  us  by  the  arm,  and 
apparently  intend  to  capture  us  by  main  force,  while  they 
try  to  frighten  off  all  other  claimants  for  the  booty. 

At  length,  however,  our  manhood  asserts  itself,  and  our 
womanhood  too,  for  that  mattei'  —  for  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  there  is  a  feminine  pilgrim  in  this  party  —  and 
summoning  all  our  Arabic,  in  the  most  impressive  tones  we 
can  summon,  and  with  gestures  that  are  meant  to  be  as 
emphatic  as  their  own,  we  cry  out,  "  Iscut  walla  mafish 
backsheesh ! "  (Be  quiet  or  you  shall  have  no  fee.)  What  we 
lack  in  accuracy  of  pronunciation,  we  make  up  in  vigor  of 
expression.  At  any  rate  the  Arabs  seem  to  understand  us, 
and,  falling  back  a  step  or  two,  there  is  a  temporary  lull  in 
the  babel.  We  then  appeal  to  the  old  Sheik,  who  stands  in 
the  thick  of  the  crowd,  a  venerable,  white-bearded  old  man, 
trying  to  bring  some  little  order  out  of  the  chaos,  and  he 
assigns  to  each  of  us  two  swarthy,  half-naked  Bedouins,  to 
take  us  by  either  arm,  while  he  tells  us  that  we  can  have 
another,  without  extra  cliarge,  to  push  behind  if  we  desire. 

The  huge  blocks  of  stone  which  form  the  outer  coating 
of  Cheops  are  usually  more  than  three  feet  in  height,  while 
some  of  them  reach  nearly  to  the  chin  of  a  full  frrown  man.. 


424  A   HARD   EARNED   VICTORY. 

It  will  be  seen  that  it  is  with  no  mincing  step  that  one  can 
mount  these  enormous  stones.  But  somehow  or  other  one 
course  after  another  is  surmounted,  a  little  hollow  will  afford 
a  place  for  the  toe,  the  muscular  Bedouin  will  climb  like  a 
cat,  and,  reaching  down,  will  lift  one  to  his  height,  while  his 
companion  below  pushes  one  upward.  Then,  following 
along  this  course  for  a  few  3'ards,  we  find  a  place  where  it  is 
possible  to  mount  to  the  next  course  of  stones,  and  then  to 
the  next,  and  so  on  until  we  stand  on  the  very  summit. 

The  day  that  we  ascended  was  honored  by  the  ascent  of 
an  enormously  stout  lady,  who,  though  she  started  some 
time  before  we  did,  was  soon  overtaken.  In  spite  of  her 
"  too,  too  solid  flesh,"  her  spirit  was  brave  and  resolute,  and 
she  had  determined  to  conquer  the  pvramid  and  stand  on  its 
apex.  Most  tourists  would  have  been  discouraged  from  the 
attempt  by  so  much  superfluous  avoirdupois,  but  not  so  with 
our  fair  and  fat  excursionist.  Her  courage  was  evidently 
quite  as  large  as  her  body,  and  though  she  puffed  and 
panted,  and  caused  all  her  numerous  retainers  to  puff  and 
pant  in  sympathy,  yet  she  persevered.  Lighter  and  more 
agile  tourists  started  long  after  she  began  the  ascent,  caught 
up  w4th  her  and  passed  her  almost  at  a  gallop,  but  she  still 
puffed  and  panted  on.  As  many  Bedouins  pulled  in  front  as 
could  get  hold  of  a  finger  or  an  arm  —  as  many  more  pushed 
behind,  and  at  last  mind  triumphed  over  matter,  and  our 
Amazon  stood  upon  the  peak,  and  was  able  to  wave  her 
handkerchief  in  triumph  to  her  timid  friends  below  who  had 
not  dared  to  make  the  ascent. 

It  must  not  be  thought,  however,  that  even  the  most 
agile  tourist  bounds  like  a  young  gazelle  from  one  course  of 
stones  to  another,  without  stopping  until  he  stands  upon  the 
top.  Though  our  guides  are  in  a  hurry  to  get  up  and  get 
down  again,  we  are  in  no  haste,  and  w^e  insist  upon  sitting 


VIEVv'    FROM    THE   TOP   OF   THE   PYRAMIDS.  425 

down  to  rest  wherever  we  choose,  for  the  view  is  growing 
more  and  more  superb  the  higher  we  ascend. 

The  yellow  sand  of  the  desert  lies  beneath  us  like  a  vast, 
silent,  petrified  sea,  lapping  the  verv  feet  of  the  pyramids. 
On  the  plateau  near  by  are  two  other  huge  pyramids,  while 
one  or  two  little  ones  —  the  children  of  the  family  —  lie  at 
our  feet.  JSTear  by,  too,  is  the  incomprehensible  Sphinx,  the 
wonder  and  mvsterv  of  the  ages,  calm  and  resolute  and 
silent,  vet  smiling  still,  though  sadlv  battered  and  mutilated 
bv  the  vandal  hands  of  iconoclasts. 

In  every  direction  except  one,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach, 
is  a  scene  of  absolute  desolation  and  death.  Interminable 
reaches  of  yellow  sand,  no  oasis,  no  green  ribbon  of  a  grass- 
like stream,  no  solitary  palm  tree  waving  its  fronds  in  the 
air  —  the  most  mournful  country  upon  which  the  sun  of 
heaven  shines.  In  the  far  distance,  to  the  south,  rise  the 
pyramids  of  Abusir  and  Saccara,  where  were  made  some 
wonderful  "finds"  of  hidden  treasures.  But  these  monu- 
ments of  dead  kings  only  seem  to  emphasize  the  desolation 
of  the  landscape.  The  only  object  which  breaks  its  mo- 
notony are  these  majestic  tombs  —  the  monuments  of  a 
civilization  which  has  been  dead  for  three  thousand  years. 

But  in  another  direction  the  scene  changes.  Beautiful 
Cairo,  mellowed  and  glorified  by  the  haze  of  distance,  rises 
in  the  east  with  its  countless  minarets  and  beautifully 
rounded  domes,  and  all  about  the  city,  which  is  laved  by  the 
life-giving  Nile,  is  the  deep-hued  vegetation  which  makes  a 
city  possible  here  in  the  midst  of  the  desert.  Wherever  the 
river  goes,  or  a  branch  of  the  river,  or  a  canal  from  that 
branch,  or  an  irrigating  ditch  fi'om  the  canal,  thither  is 
spread  in  fan-like  lines  the  refreshing  green  that  forms  such 
a  blessed  picture  of  life  and  health  as  contrasted  with  the 
deadly  sands  upon  which  this  little  fan  of  green  is  laid. 


42G 


A   STRANGE   AND   CURIOUS   SIGHT. 


"When  we  draw  nearer  to  Father  Kile  we  shall  see  many 
strange  and  curious  sights.  Possibly  we  shall  get  a  glimpse 
of  a  crocodile,  and  we  may  be  so  fortunate  as  to  come  upon 
one  of  these  ugly  saurians  who  has  devoured  his  last  infant 
Egyptian,  and  who,  bound,  stunned,  and  helpless,  is  at  the 
mercy  of  his  captors.  His  hide  will  serve  a  more  useful 
purpose  than  ever  before  when  it  is  turned  into  a  scaly  grip- 
sack for  the  use  and  behoof  of  some  American  drummer. 


.""'•fj;''''i,'!'iWI|W'li;!:i'''''»V'vT' 
tlii»."i>iw«'J*'iS.'j!i>;.oCll.:..i''':'-k;-i  '■■■;!' . 

li»li'!'lp|.i'l'."ll||A'-;j|ii.:i|Uii^iiilii'ii.,i,iii;;itil..„.ll'i.i;j 


A  SCEKE  ON   THE  NILE. 


Of  course  such  scenes  are  more  common  on  the  upper  Kile 
than  they  are  near  Cairo. 

While  we  are  sitting  here  on  the  pyramid-top,  looking  at 
the  view  from  one  of  the  upper  courses  of  stone,  it  will  be  a 
good  time  for  us  to  learn  something  of  the  construction  of 
the  great  monument  we  are  ascending,  and  something  of 
its  ancient  history. 

I  was  much  interested  in  the  account  that  Herodotus 
gives  of  the  building  of  Cheops,  for  no  one  can  be  more 
accurate  or  reliable  than  the  great  historian  in  regard  to 
objects  which  he  himself  saw.  Here  is  his  account  of  it : 
"  This  pj^ramid  was  first  built  in  the  form  of  a  flight  of  steps. 


HOW   THE   PYRAMIDS  WERE  BUILT,  427 

After  the  workmen  had  completed  tlie  p\'ramid  in  this  form, 
they  raised  the  other  stones  used  for  the  incrustation  by- 
means  of  machines  made  of  short  beams,  from  the  ground  to 
the  first  tier  of  steps,  and,  after  the  stone  was  placed  there, 
it  was  raised  to  the  second  tier  by  another  machine,  for  there 
were  as  many  machines  as  there  were  tiers  of  steps,  or  per- 
haps the  same  machine,  if  it  were  easily  moved,  was  raised 
from  one  tier  to  the  other,  as  it  was  required  for  lifting  the 
stones.  The  highest  part  of  the  pyramid  was  thus  finished 
first,  the  parts  adjoining  it  were  taken  next,  and  the  lowest 
part,  next  to  the  earth,  was  completed  last. 

"It  was  recorded  on  the  pyramid  in  Egyptian  ^Titing 
[the  stones  which  recorded  these  facts,  I  may  say,  have  long 
been  removed,  and  there  is  now  no  writing  visible]  how 
many  radishes,  onions,  and  roots  of  garlic  had  been  dis- 
tributed among  the  workmen,  and  if  I  rightly  remember 
what  the  interpreter  who  read  the  Avriting  told  me,"  says 
Herodotus,  "  the  money  they  cost  amounted  to  sixteen  hun- 
dred talents  of  silver  [more  than  $170,000].  If  this  was 
really  the  case,  how  much  more  must  have  been  spent  on  the 
iron  with  which  they  worked  than  the  food  and  clothing  of 
the  workmen." 

This  account  of  the  ancient  historian  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  pyramid  was  constructed  has  been  entirely  con- 
firmed by  modern  researches. 

It  can  verv  easilv  be  believed  that  these  vast  structures, 

with  their  hidden  recesses,  early  excited  the  cupidity  of  the 

successors  of  the  Pharaohs.     It  is  said  that  the  pyramids 

were  first  opened  and  examined  by  the  Persians  about  five 

hundred   vears  before  Christ,   and  it  is  verv   certain  that 

Arabs   made    many   attempts  to   get   within    the  treasure 

chamber.      These   vast    receptacles   of    the    bodies    of    the 

kings  of  ancient  Egvpt  were  like  the  forbidden  room  in 
26 


428  WHAT  WAS   DISCOVERED   IX  THE   PYRAMIDS. 

Bluebeard's  palace,  or  the  box  or  closet  which  the  anxious 
mother  tells  the  curious  child  must  not  be  investigated. 
The  very  fact  that  it  was  sealed  excited  the  cupidity  and 
curiosity  of  these  children  of  the  desert,  and  thev  were  for- 
ever trying  to  pry  open  the  doors,  and  get  at  the  fabulous 
treasures  which  they  believed  were  concealed  within.  The 
vastness  and  the  strength  of  the  pyramids  is  in  no  way 
better  indicated  than  by  the  fact  that  for  so  long  they 
resisted  the  prying  curiosity  of  these  Khalifs,  who  had  noth- 
ing better  to  do  than  to  pull  down  what  the  Pharaohs  had 
built  up. 

But  it  is  verv  certain  that  thev  discovered  within  the  re- 
cesses  of  the  pyramids,  when,  after  hundreds  of  years,  they 
w^ere  able  to  force  an  entrance,  very  little  to  pay  them  for 
their  time  and  trouble.  It  was  not  until  the  A^ear  1820, 
fully  twelve  hundred  years  after  the  first  attempt  was  made 
that  Khalif  Mamun  got  within  the  great  pyramid,  and  it  is 
said  that  the  gold  found  within  was  exactly  enough  to  pay 
for  the  cost  of  breaking  and  entering.  Along  Avith  the 
treasure,  so  runs  the  Arabian  tradition,  Avas  found  a  marble 
slab  bearing  an  inscription  Avhich  said  that  the  money  beside 
it  sufficed  to  pay  for  the  work  of  the  inquisitive  king,  but 
that  if  he  attempted  to  go  further,  he  would  have  his  labor 
for  his  pains,  for  he  Avould  find  nothing  worth  taking. 

It  is  altogether  probable,  as  historians  have  suggested. 
that  if  this  gold  were  found,  it  had  been  previously  placed 
there  by  the  calif  who  made  the  investigation,  in  order  that 
his  people  might  not  be  able  to  chide  him  Avith  having 
expended  so  much  money  for  nothing. 

Some  of  the  vandals  AA'ho  succeeded  Ivhalif  Mamun  Avere 
not  content  to  search  the  supposed  treasure  chamber  further, 
but  set  out  deliberately  to  destroy  with  malice  aforethought 
the  gigantic  mementoes  of  the  past.     Sultan  Othnian,  who 


SEEKING  TO   DESTROY   THE   PYRAMIDS.  429 

lived  at  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century,  and  whose  name 
ought  to  be  forever  execrated  by  all  lovers  of  the  magnifi- 
cent, set  to  work  witli  the  fell  purpose  of  destroying  the 
thu'd  pyramid,  which  we  can  see  from  the  top  of  Gizeh  a 
little  to  the  west  of  us.  He  actually  organized  a  party  of 
workmen  to  undertake  this  destruction,  pitched  a  camp  at 
the  base  of  the  pyramid,  and  labored  incessantly  for  eight 
months;  but  the  pyramid  was  stronger  than  the  puny 
Othman.  His  eight  montlis  of  labor,  and  the  enormous 
sums  which  he  spent  in  the  work  of  destruction  practically 
effected  nothing,  except  as  one  historian  says,  "  the  shameful 
mutilation  of  the  pyramid  and  the  demonstration  of  the 
weakness  and  incapacity  of  the  explorers.  AVhen  the  stones 
that  were  removed  are  regarded  at  the  present  day,  one 
would  think  that  the  structure  had  been  entirely  destroyed ; 
])ut  when  one  then  looks  at  the  pyramid  itself,  one  sees  that 
it  has  suffered  no  material  damage,  and  that  a  part  of  its 
incrustation  has  been  stripped  off  on  one  side  only."  This 
fact,  concerning  the  impotence  of  this  iconoclast,  teUs  vol- 
umes of  the  strength  and  solidity  and  might  of  the  pyra- 
mids. A  great  force  of  men,  working  incessantly  for  eight 
months,  could  only  scar  and  mutilate  its  face  on  one  side. 
The  Pharaohs  could  build  what  their  successors  could  not 
overthrow. 

Now  we  are  sufficiently  rested  to  pursue  our  journey  to 
the  top ;  following  the  zigzag  line,  planting  our  toes  in  the 
convenient  crevices,  jumping  and  springing  as  best  we  can, 
allowing  our  guides  to  pull  and  push  us  wherever  it  may  be 
necessary,  we  at  last  reach  the  summit,  and  the  view  which 
was  before  partial  and  incomplete  is  now  full-orbed  and 
most  magnificent.  Xowhere  is  there  sucli  a  contrast  of  life 
and  death;  nowhere  else  can  Ave  look  down  upon  such 
mighty  hieroglyphics  of  the  ages. 


430  VENDERS   OF   SPURIOUS   CURIOSITIES. 

As  we  stand  below,  "forty  centuries  look  down  upon  us," 
as  IS'^apoleon  reminded  his  troops,  when  they  stood  under  the 
shadow  of  the  pyramids.  As  we  gaze  from  the  top,  Ave  look 
down  upon  forty  centuries.  Every  mighty  pyramid  is 
eloquent  with  the  tale  of  a  past  civilization,  forever  forgot- 
ten and  blotted  out.  Even  the  silent  Sphinx  seems  to  have 
a  tongue  to  tell  us  of  the  glories  of  the  past,  over  which  she 
looks  with  her  solemn,  unblinking  eyes.  Every  grain  of 
sand,  if  it  could  tell  its  tale,  would  have  a  story  more 
marvelous  than  the  fictions  of  Scheherezade. 

We  are  aroused  from  these  reveries  concerning  the  great- 
ness of  the  past  and  the  desolation  of  the  present,  by  the  in- 
evitable Bedouins  and  their  exasperating  cry  for  baksheesh. 
"We  arise  in  our  wrath,  and  tell  the  miserable  horde  that  if 
they  say  another  word  about  backsheesh  before  we  reach 
the  bottom  of  the  p3'ramid,  they  will  not  get  a  single  piaster 
beyond  the  strictly  legal  limits  of  their  pay.  Though  this 
speech  is  delivered  in  queen's  English,  unadorned  with  a 
single  word  of  Arabic,  they  seem  to  understand  its  purport, 
and  subside  to  some  extent. 

But  we  are  not  relieved  from  the  pestiferous  attention  of 
the  curiosity  vender  or  the  dealer  in  spurious  coins,  who 
haunts  the  pyramid.  He  claims,  of  course,  that  his  coins 
were  found  in  the  vaults  of  this  very  pyramid,  though  we 
know  very  well  that  they  were  undoubtedly  made  in  Bir- 
mingham or  Sheffield.  But  Avhat  cares  he  for  truth  or 
poetry !  "What  cares  he  for  the  story  of  the  pyramid,  or  the 
tale  of  the  Sphinx !  All  these  things  are  old  fables  to  him, 
and  he  is  only  concerned  to  work  oif  upon  us  his  spurious 
relics,  his  "antikkers"  as  he  calls  them,  in  his  Arabian 
English. 

One  of  our  guides  insists  that  his  name  is  Mark  Twain, 
"Abdul  Mark  Twain,"  he  solemnly  informs  us,  and  when 


A  "WONDERFUL   FEAT. 


431 


we  accuse  Mm  of  prevarication,  and  tell  him  that  we  left 
Mark  Twain  at  the  foot  of  the  pyramid,  and  did  not  engage 
him  for  the  ascent,  he  unblushingly  informs  us  that  there  are 
three  Mark  Twains  among  the  guides,  but  that  he  is  Abdul 
Mark  Twain.  We  cannot  shake  his  faith  in  his  own  iden- 
tity, and  then  he  solemnly  informs  us  that  he  is  the  Mark 
Twain,  who,  when  the  humorist  visited  the  pyramid,  ran 
down  Cheops  and  up 
the  side  of  Cephron. 
and  back  agam,  all 
within  ten  minutes. 
He  offers  to  do  the 
same  feat  for  us  for 
the  sum  of  four 
francs,  but  we  refuse 
his  blandishments. 

When  we  reached 
the  bottom,  we  set- 
tled the  bill  for  the 
ascent,  not  with  our 
importunate  guide, 
but  with  the  grey- 
bearded  Sheik  who 
awaited  us,  paying 
the  regular  fee  and  a 
reasonable  baksheesh  to  each  of  our  guides.  Of  course  this  is 
not  done  without  protestations  and  the  bowlings  of  impotent 
wrath  that  they  cannot  extract  from  us  ten  times  what  is 
their  due.  But  we  are  oblivious  to  their  threats,  as- 
sume utter  ignorance  of  their  lano^uao:e,  which  is  not  difficult 
to  do,  escape  from  their  clutches,  and  make  our  way  to  the 
Sphmx. 

Of  course  we  must  go  thither  in  as  romantic  a  way  as 


THE   FLIGHT   DOWTST  THE  PYRAMID. 


432  RIDING  A   CAMEL. 

possible,  and  so  we  mount  one  of  the  ragged  camels  which 
are  waiting  to  convey  travelers  to  the  silent  stone  woman, 
and  in  this  manner  make  the  short  journey. 

In  order  to  allow  tourists  to  mount,  the  camel  unlimbers 
himself,  doubles  in  his  fore  legs  and  shuts  them  up  like  a 
jackknife,  does  the  same  thing  with  his  hind  legs,  and  is 
then  sufficiently  low,  so  that  with  some  difficulty  we  can 
reach  the  saddle.  When  we  are  safely  seated  astride  his 
hump,  he  begins  to  undouble  himself,  first  unjointing  his 
hind  legs,  then  getting  upon  his  knees,  and  finally  upon  his 
great,  splay-footed,  spongy  feet.  Preserving  our  equilibrium 
as  well  as  possible,  and  holding  on  with  both  hands,  so  as  not 
to  be  thrown  over  his  head,  we  await  his  next  movement. 
This  is  even  more  trying  than  the  first,  for  as  he  stretches 
his  front  legs,  we  rock  back  and  forth,  as  though  we  were 
astride  a  miniature  earthquake,  but  at  last  he  is  on  his  feet 
again,  and  plods  off  solemnly  with  his  nose  high  in  the  air, 
towards  the  Sphinx  of  which  he  seems  a  fitting  counterpart. 

It  is  only  a  short  journey,  and  is  accomplished  in  a  few 
minutes,  and  we  find  ourselves  face  to  face  with  this  silent 
wonder  of  the  ages.  The  Sphinx  was  doubtless  far  more 
impressive  before  she  had  her  nose  battered  off,  her  ear 
amputated,  and  her  eyes  blackened,  by  the  combined  spite  of 
iconoclasts  and  relic  hunters. 

An  old  Mohammedan  Sheik,  who  took  the  second  com- 
mandment too  literally,  and  vowed  that  the  world  should 
not  have  any  graven  images  if  he  could  help  it,  is  responsible 
for  much  of  this  mutilation.  The  Mamelukes  accomplished 
much  more  in  this  direction,  having  used  the  Sphinx  as  a 
target  for  their  cannon-balls,  and  relic  hunters  have  added 
their  puny  might  by  chipping  away  here  and  there  bits  of 
stone  to  adorn  their  wretched  little  museums.  We  can 
scarcely  get  an  adequate  idea  of  this  magnificent  monument 


THE   INCOMPREHENSIBLE   SPHINX. 


433 


of  the  ages  when  in  its  pristine  glory,  but  we  can  easily  be- 
lieve what  an  old  writer  tells  us  who  saw  the  statue  when  in 
perfect  preservation ;  that  its  face  was  very  pleasing,  and 
was  of  a  graceful  and  beautiful  type.  "  One  might  almost 
say,"  he  adds,  "  that  it  smiles  winningly."  The  Arabs  have 
a  very  significant  name  for  the  Sphinx,  which  may  be  trans- 
lated "The  Watchful."  This  is  the  impression  that  she 
still  gives  to  every  beholder.  There  is  still  a  wakeful  intel- 
ligence in  the  mutilated  face ;  there  is  still  a  calm  suggestion 


THE  SPHINX. 


of  limitless  vision  in  the  eyes.  There  is  still  a  calm  poise  in 
the  outstretched  lions'  feet  and  in  the  whole  attitude  of  the 
unfinished  body,  which  leads  one  to  say,  "This  is  the 
watcher  of  the  desert."  From  her  fathomless  eyes  she  has 
looked  out  upon  everything  that  has  happened  for  four 
thousand  years,  and  she  will  still  watch  over  the  sands  of 
the  desert,  in  spite  of  iconoclast  and  relic  hunters,  down  to 
"the  last  syllable  of  recorded  time." 

A  few  feet  from  the  Sphinx  is  a  great  temple  composed 
of   granite    and    alabaster,  and  in    the  vicinity    are    other 


434 


ADIEU   TO   THE   EGYPTIAN   DESERT. 


wonders  as  well.  But  we  are  satisfied  with  our  day's  work. 
This  stupendous  pyramid  and  the  magnificent  Sphinx  satisfy 
all  our  aspirations  for  sightseeing.  We  can  absorb,  to-day, 
no  more  of  the  marvels  and  glories  of  the  ancient  world,  and 
we  will  return  to  our  hotel  in  Cairo,  and  later  to  our  home 
in  America,  to  think  over  and  to  dream  of  the  wonders  of 
the  Egyptian  desert. 


CHAPTER  XXIIL 

ALL  ABOARD  FOR  JERUSALEM. 

A  Stormy  Day  iu  March  —  A  Test  for  Brave  Hearts  and  Strong  Stom- 
achs—  Throwing  Up  Jonah — Going  Ashore  at  Jaffa  —  How  We  Got 
Down  the  Ship's  Side  —  Dumping  Passengers  in  the  Small  Boat  —  Up 
to  the  Ridge  Pole  and  Down  the  Side  of  the  Great  Tent  —  A  Terrible 
Accident  —  A  Highwayman's  Demand  —  "  Your  Money  or  Your  Life" 
—  A  Near  Approach  —  Unspealiable  Filtli  —  Tlie  House  of  Simon  the 
Tanner — Simon's  Vat  —  View  from  the  Housetop  —  Our  Rural  Friend 
from  New  York  State  —  "Them  Jimkirridges  " — Through  the  Holy 
Land  Behind  a  Steam  Engine  —  The  Sentimental  Man  —  The  Reward  of 
Indulging  a  Sentiment  —  Our  Dragoman  —  How  Abdallah  Caught  the 
Doctors  Napping  —  When  the  Sun  and  the  Moon  Stood  Still  — The 
Dapper  Conductor  in  His  Red  Fez  —  The  Rose  of  Sharon. 


E  sailed  from  Alexandria  one 
stormy  day  in  March,  and,  after 
a  journey  of  some  four  and 
tAventy  hours,  reached  ancient 
Jaffa,  the  chief  seaport  of  Jeru- 
salem, 

Joppa,  or  Jaffa  as  it  is  now 
called,  deserves  its  bad  reputa- 
tion as  the  worst  port  in  all  the 
world.  Brave  travelers  who 
will  not  blanch  at  any  other  ter- 
rors which  a  journey  around  the 
world  has  in  store  for  them,  confess  to  an  unworthy  fear  of 
this  landing  place,  and  strong  stomachs  which  never  rebel 
under  ordinary  circumstances,  however  boisterous  the  seas, 

turn  themselves  inside  out  when  they  go  ashore  at  this  port. 

(435) 


43G  ON   SHIPBOARD   WITH   JONAH. 

"  Throwing  ii])  Jonah ''  becomes  more  than  a  figm^ative 
phrase  in  the  roadstead  of  Jaffa,  for  it  Avill  be  remembered 
that  it  Avas  from  this  very  town  that  the  famous  navigator  of 
old  set  sail,  when,  attempting  to  run  away  from  God's  com- 
mand, he  took  ship  for  Tarshish. 

Modern  navigators  on  the  Syrian  coast  have  not  forgotten 
the  Bible  story,  for,  w^henever  the  sea  is  unusually  rough, 
they  say  to  this  day,  that  Jonah  has  taken  ship  and  the 
waves  will  not  subside  until  he  is  landed. 

Evidently,  Jonah  was  on  board  when  we  sailed  up  to 
Jaffa's  gates,  for  the  Avaves  danced  and  leaped  about  our 
steamer  and  grew  every  moment  more  boisterous,  though 
the  rain  had  ceased  and  the  sun  was  shining  brightly  over- 
head. 

When  the  good  steamer  of  the  Egyptian  or  Khedival 
line  on  which  we  were  embarked  came  to  anchor,  the  health 
officer,  after  some  delay,  declared  that  we  might  land.  Then 
Ave  could  see  half  a  score  of  stout  boats,  each  armed  by  half 
a  dozen  roAvers,  start  out  from  behind  the  line  of  rocks  Avhich 
flank  the  coast  and  form  a  poor  apology  for  a  breakAvater. 

There  is  great  rivalry  betAveen  the  boats,  for  all  the  pas- 
sengers are  regarded  as  legitimate  prey  by  the  representa- 
tives of  tourist  companies,  and  the  boat  that  first  comes  to 
the  steamer  is  first  served  with  its  quota  of  passengers. 

As  they  near  the  steamer,  the  boatmen  pull  Avith  re- 
doubled energy,  and  then  ensues  such  a  tumbling  and  scramb- 
ling and  rushing  and  snatching  of  baggage  as  defies  de- 
scription. 

Most  of  us,  hoAvever,  have  purchased  our  landing  tickets 
in  advance,  from  one  of  the  aforesaid  tourists'  companies,  at 
an  absurdly  high  price,  it  must  be  confessed.  The  boatmen 
of  one  of  these  riA^al  companies  Avear  red  shirts,  the  other 
blue,  and  Ave  have  little  difficulty  in  picking  out  our  blue-coat 


A  PERILOUS   DESCENT.  437 

or  our  red-coat,  as  the  case  may  be.  We  have  to  use  vio- 
lence, however,  to  get  our  small  packages  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  wrong  man  and  into  the  hands  of  the  right  man,  who 
finally  dumps  them  into  one  of  his  own  boats,  and  then  pro- 
ceeds to  dump  us  in  after  the  baggage.  It  is  an  exciting 
operation,  especially  for  women  and  fat  people. 

The  little  boats  are  dancing  about  the  big  steamer  like 
pith  balls  on  an  electric  plate.  Now  they  mount  on  the 
crest  of  a  wave  almost  to  the  bulwarks,  and  then  they  sink 
down,  down,  down,  far  below  the  usual  water  line. 

It  requires  no  little  dexterity  and  agility  to  get  over  the 
steamer's  side  and  into  the  little  boat  under  these  circum- 
stances. One  must  watch  his  chance,  and  when  the  landing 
boat  rises  on  the  wave  to  its  highest  point,  he  must  rush 
down  the  gangway  and  throw  himself  into  the  arms  of  the 
boatman  who  is  waiting  to  receive  him  below. 

All  this  is  done  amid  shouts  of  sailors  and  shrieks  of 
frightened  tourists  and  dashing  of  waves  and  creaking  of 
windlasses  and  whistling  of  wind  in  the  rigging  until  it 
seems  that  Pandemonium  itself  is  let  loose. 

At  length,  however,  the  last  passenger  has  been  swung 
over  the  ship's  side,  and  the  last  trunk  has  been  dropped  into 
the  capacious  boats,  which,  with  the  greatest  difficulty,  are 
kept  from  grinding  themselves  into  kindling  wood  on  the 
iron  hull  of  the  steamer.  Our  boatmen  shove  off,  and  then 
begins  a  royal  struggle  with  the  waves. 

Up,  up,  up,  we  go,  to  the  very  ridgepole  of  a  great  billow 
which  slopes  away  on  either  side  like  a  vast  tent.  Then  we 
slide  down,  down,  down  the  billowy  side  of  our  watery  tent, 
until  we  reach  the  trough  of  the  wave,  only  to  mount  the 
side  of  the  next  wave  that  is  rushing  our  way,  as  though  it 
would  collapse  and  overwhelm  us  in  its  capacious  folds. 

Thus  we  mount  one  billow  after  another,  our  sturdy  boat- 


438  A  DISTRESSING   ACCIDENT. 

man  always  putting  the  ]wow  of  the  boat  into  the  wave,  and 
never  allowing  it  to  strike  us  bi'oadside,  until  at  last  we 
round  the  edge  of  the  protecting  rocks  and  hear  that 
"  blessedest  of  sounds,"  the  keel  of  our  boat  grating  on  the 
pebbles  of  Jaffa's  shore. 

With  all  its  seeming  f rightfulness,  there  is  probably  little 
real  danger  in  this  landing,  and  comparatively  few  accidents 
occur  except  by  reason  of  gross  carelessness. 

A  few  weeks  before  we  reached  Jaffa,  however,  a  very 
distressing  accident  of  this  sort  had  occurred.  A  large  party 
of  travelers,  mostly  Kussian  pilgrims,  had  embarked  on  one 
of  these  boats  for  the  shore.  The  day  w^as  stormy  and  the 
sea  tempestuous  ;  very  much  such  a  day,  we  imagine,  as  that 
on  which  we  landed.  The  passengers  had  all  agreed  with 
the  boatmen  to  be  taken  to  the  shore  for  half  a  napoleon 
(nearly  two  dollars),  a  sum  which,  for  the  distance  carried,  is 
exorbitant.  But  no  sooner  was  the  boat  in  the  middle  of  the 
boiling,  seething  waters,  half  way  between  the  ship  and  the 
shore,  when  the  avaricious  boatmen  demanded  double  fares 
and  threw  up  their  oars,  declaring  that  they  w^ould  go  no 
farther  until  their  demands  were  met. 

This  was  no  better  than  highway  robbery,  and  naturally 
the  passengers  refused  to  accede  to  it.  In  the  dispute  that 
ensued,  a  tremendous  w^ave  struck  the  boat,  and,  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye,  overturned  it,  and  after  a  few  vain 
struggles  with  the  engulfing  waves,  it  sank  to  the  bottom. 
ISTot  one  of  the  pilgrims  was  saved,  though  all  the  greedy, 
rascally  boatmen,  being  strong  swimmers,  succeeded  in  reach, 
inff  the  rocks. 

It  is  a  satisfaction  to  know  that  all  these  murderers  were 
apprehended  and  lodged  in  jail,  where  w^e  hope  they  will 
remain  for  manv  a  vear  before  thev  are  released  to  risk  the 
lives  of  other  tourists  by  their  grasping  cupidity. 


JAFFA   AS    IT    IS.  439 

Jaffa  is  an  imposing  looking  city  from  the  sea.  Its  white- 
washed stone  houses  swarm  up  the  side  of  a  steep  liill,  and 
spread  themselves  out  over  its  crest  until  one  fondly  believes 
that  he  is  gazing  upon  a  city  of  palaces. 

But  in  this  case,  as  in.  so  many  others,  distance  lends  en- 
chantment to  the  view,  and  when  we  actually  land  and  thread 
the  narrow,  tortuous  streets,  we  find  that  it  is  about  the  filthi- 
est and  most  unkempt  city  on  which  the  sun  shines. 

The  streets  are  full  of  swaying  camels  and  pushing  little 
donkeys  and  unwashed  ragged  Syrians  of  every  degree  of 
poverty  and  wretchedness. 

It  is  almost  inconceivable  how  some  of  the  narrow  streets 
can  remain  as  filthy  as  they  are.  One  would  think  that  even 
an  occasional  shower  would  wash  some  of  the  accumulated 
dirt  of  the  ages  off  them,  and  that  a  rainy  season  would  sen- 
sibly sweeten  these  filthy  thoroughfares. 

Apparently,  however,  nature  has  given  up  in  despair. 
The  dirt  of  the  davs  of  Jonah  still  clings  to  one's  feet  in 
greasy  clods.  The  mud  and  filth  of  the  time  of  Dorcas  is 
comparatively  modern.  We  have  always  supposed  that  Dor- 
cas was  a  model  housekeeper  as  well  as  a  good  lady  of 
most  charitable  purposes,  and  we  have  no  doubt  that  she 
kept  the  street  in  front  of  her  own  house  clean  and  sweet. 
But  what  is  one  woman  against  a  whole  city  full  of  dirty 
Arabs  ?  Yery  likely  Dorcas  and  all  the  good  women  who 
have  lived  there  before  and  since  her  day  have  become  dis- 
couraged, and  have  allowed  Jaffa  to  go  on  at  the  slovenly, 
down-at-the-heel  gait,  which  is  now  so  characteristic  of  it. 

Though  we  cannot  find  anv  verv  authentic  memorials  of 
Dorcas,  the  traditional  house  of  Simon  the  Tanner  is  pointed 
out  to  us,  and  a  pretty  well  authenticated  tradition  it  is  as 
traditions  go  in  this  land. 

In  the  first-place,  we  are  conducted  into  a  dark,  thick- 


440  THE   HOUSE   OF   SIMON   THE   TANNER. 

walled  apartiueiit,  Avliere  we  need  a  candle  even  to  see  the 
outlines  of  the  room,  and  are  told  that  this  was  the  very  spot 
where  the  ancient  house  existed,  and  that  the  stones  we  see 
constituted  its  walls  eio-hteen  hundred  years  aco. 

Just  outside  this  room  is  a  courtyard,  in  one  corner  of 
which  is  a  well  and  a  stone  trough,  which  tradition  sa3's  is 
the  vat  in  which  St.  Peter's  friend  of  old  soaked  his  leather. 

In  the  well  hangs  an  old  oaken  bucket  from  which  we 
drank  a  full  draught  of  the  sparkling  water,  as  ]ierhaps 
Simon  and  Peter  had  done  many  a  time  in  the  past. 

From  one  corner  of  this  courtyard  a  flight  of  stairs  leads 
to  the  housetop,  the  most  famous  part  of  this  establishment, 
for  here  it  is  said  St.  Peter  slept  when  he  had  the  wondrous 
vision  which  was  fraught  with  such  momentous  meaning  to 
all  the  world. 

Here  he  saw  the  sheet  let  down  from  heaven  which  con- 
tained all  manner  of  four-footed  beasts  while  at  the  same 
time  came  the  command,  "■  Else,  Peter,  kill  and  eat." 

But  Peter  demurred,  saying,  "  Not  so.  Lord,  for  I  have 
never  eaten  anything  common  or  unclean." 

Then  came  the  significant  command  which  wrought  such 
a  wondrous  change  in  the  heart  of  the  narrow,  conventional 
Jew,  and  which  made  him  the  broad-minded,  generous  apos- 
tle whom  all  ao:es  delifi-ht  to  honor. 

"  What  God  hath  cleansed  that  call  not  thou  common." 

Was  ever  a  vision  accompanied  by  greater  results  % 

Is  any  place  fraught  with  deeper  significance  than  that 
humble  housetop  from  which  was  proclaimed  to  Peter  and 
through  Peter  to  the  world  the  momentous  lesson  that  the 
Fatherhood  of  God  involves  the  Brotherhood  of  Man  ? 

The  view  from  this  housetop  makes  it  well  worthy  of  a 
visit  apart  from  its  historic  significance. 

Here  one  looks  out  upon  the  waves  of  the  same  port  that 


"starving  all  around  the  world."  441 

has  been  historic  since  Hiram,  King  of  Tyre,  by  this  route 
sent  cedar  wood  and  all  manner  of  precious  gifts  to  Solomon. 

Between  these  same  encircling  rocks  the  little  vessel  on 
which  Jonah  had  embarked  must  have  steered  her  course  ; 
over  these  waves  half  the  famous  men  of  old  made  their  wav, 
as  thev  came  and  went  through  this  ocean  gate  of  Svria. 

After  viewing  this  really  fine  view  from  Simon's  house- 
top, after  visiting  the  site  of  ISTapoleon's  hospital  prison, 
where,  if  liistorians  are  to  believed,  at  his  orders  a  horrible 
butchery  of  sick  French  soldiers  occurred  ;  after  spending 
a  few  sentimental  moments  in  the  vicinity  of  Dorcas's 
reputed  abode,  we  did  not  care  to  stay  in  this  squalid  city. 

"We  did  stay  long  enough,  however,  to  meet  a  typical 
character  from  ISTew  York  state,  a  good  old  man,  who, 
though  he  had  been  around  the  world,  and  tasted  the  food 
of  every  clime,  had  not  shaken  the  hayseed  out  of  his  hair  or 
got  used  to  his  best  "store  clothes,"  which  sat  upon  him 
awkwardly  and  loosely. 

As  we  looked  across  the  table,  at  Jaffa's  very  indifferent 
hotel,  where  a  bowl  of  thin  onion  soup  had  been  succeeded 
by  a  dish  of  garlic-scented  meat,  our  rural  friend  looked 
across  at  us  and  said,  with  a  pathetic  wail  in  his  voice,  "  I 
have  been  starving  all  around  the  world ;  in  Japan,  China, 
and  India  we  have  been  half  starved  to  death,  for  we  are 
Americans,  you  see,  and  ain't  used  to  this  sort  of  thing." 
"We  sympathized  with  him  with  all  our  hearts,  for,  although 
it  had  been  our  happy  lot  to  spend  most  of  our  time  among 
friends  where  we  felt  almost  as  much  at  home  as  at  our  own 
table,  we  realized  what  it  must  have  been  to  this  wandering 
Jonathan  who  had  left  tlie  havfields  to  see  the  world,  in  his 
old  age,  when  he  was  too  far  advanced  in  years  to  adapt 
himself  to  the  circumstances  with  which  he  found  himself 
surrounded,  and  to  eat  the  food  that  was  set  before  him. 


443  ALL  ABOARD  FOR  JERUSALEM. 

He  went  on  to  tell  us  about  his  experiences.  '*I  did 
kind  o'  like  it  in  Japan,"  he  confided  to  ns.  "They  were 
sort  o'  smart,  and  up  and  comin',  and  seemed  a  good  deal 
like  the  Yankees  I  was  used  to  at  home,  and  1  did  like  them 
jimkirridges  that  they  ride  in,"  he  went  on  to  say.  "  You 
mean  the  jinrikishaws,"  said  his  better  half,  who  sat  by  his 
side.  "Yes,"  he  replied,  "jimkirridges  or  jinrikishaws  or 
whatever  thev  call  'em,  it's  all  one  to  me." 

"We  soon  bade  good-bye  to  the  rural  New  Yorker  and 
took  the  first  train  available  for  Jerusalem.  At  the  first 
blush  it  does  seem  sacrileo-ious  to  think  of  drivinjj:  throufi-h 
the  Holv  Land  behind  a  snorting  locomotive,  to  have  an  im- 
pertinent  railway  ticket  thrust  into  3'our  hatband  by  a 
jaunt}"  conductor  in  a  Turkish  fez,  and  to  steam  across  the 
sacred  vallevs  and  over  the  sacred  mountains,  even  thouo-h 
we  travel  at  the  alarming  speed  of  fifteen  miles  an  hour. 

However,  when  the  question  actually  comes  as  to 
whether  one  will  take  two  days  to  make  the  journey  for  the 
sake  of  indulging  a  pious  sentiment,  or  will  make  it  in  three 
hours,  thus  gaining  more  time  in  the  Sacred  City,  the  prac- 
tical man  will  doubtless  decide  to  postpone  his  sentimental 
aspirations  for  a  short  time,  and  take  advantage  of  the  new 
French  railroad  which  has  been  constructed  from  the  sea- 
shore almost  to  the  very  gate  of  the  City  of  King  David. 

I  have  heard  of  one  man  Avho  was  bound  not  to  yield  to 
the  blandishments  of  rapid  transit,  but  to  nurse  his  poetic 
sensibilities  in  solitude  as  he  entered  the  Holy  City,  or  at 
least  with  the  companionship  of  his  faithful  steed  alone. 
He  would  transport  himself  back  to  the  twelfth  century  as 
far  as  possible.  He  would  enter  the  city  like  the  Crusader 
of  old,  riding  upon  his  chosen  charger.  Though  he  might 
patronize  the  railway  for  a  short  distance,  he  would  abandon 
it  before  it  approached  the  sacred  gates. 


SENTIMENT   VERSUS   COMFORT.  443 

So  when  within  two  stations  of  Jerusalem,  about  twelve 
English  miles  distant,  he  left  the  train  and  the  com- 
panions with  whom  he  had  journeyed,  and  hired  a  horse, 
which  proved  to  be  a  sorry  nag  indeed,  for  the  rest  of 
the  journey.  But  the  skies  were  unpropitious  —  they  evi- 
dently did  not  sympathize  with  his  sentiments,  for,  before  he 
had  gone  a  mile,  black  clouds  covered  the  face  of  the 
heavens,  the  sun  retired  from  view  and  the  rain  descended  in 
torrents.  Though  wet  to  the  skin  there  was  nothing  to  do 
but  to  plod  on  over  the  steep  and  rocky  roads.  He  could 
not  spur  his  jaded  steed  to  any  greater  exertion,  and  he  ar- 
rived, wet  and  bedraggled,  with  all  the  sentiment  soaked  out 
of  his  system,  some  three  hours  after  his  more  unpoetic 
companions,  who  stuck  to  the  railway,  had  reached  Jeru- 
salem. 

On  the  day  that  we  took  this  famous  railway  ride  our 
fellow-passengers  consisted  of  some  half-dozen  Americans,  as 
many  more  Englishmen,  a  few  hilarious  Turks,  who  had 
been  breaking  their  temperance  pledge  by  indulging  in 
strong  waters,  and  one  or  two  fat  and  unctuous  priests. 

But  most  picturesque  of  our  fellow-passengers  was  Ab- 
dallah,  the  dragoman,  w^ho  was  taking  some  of  our  fellow- 
passengers  to  their  hotel.  Alert,  keen,  quick-w^itted,  he  was 
a  typical  Syrian  in  every  feature  and  characteristic. 
Around  his  head  was  a  beautiful  purple  silk  kaphileh,  while 
over  his  shoulders  was  a  loose  flowing  garment  of  fine  text- 
ure, shot  through  and  through  with  silver  threads,  the  envy 
and  despair  of  most  of  the  ladies  in  the  car. 

A  common  saying  in  the  East  is,  "A  Greek  will  get  the 
better  of  ten  Europeans,  a  Jew  will  beat  ten  Greeks,  an 
Armenian  will  equal  ten  Jews,  and  a  Syrian  is  more  than  a 
match  for  a  Greek,  Jew,  and  Armenian  together."  We 
could  well  understand  this  saying  as  we  looked  at  this  keen, 

27 


414 


ABDALLAH,  OUR   DRAGOMAN. 


geogra- 


self-reliant,  ready  dragoman,  who  bad  the  history, 
phy,  and  archaeology  of  Palestine  at  his  tongue's  end. 

At  least  he  had  enough  of  it  to  answer  his  purpose  and 
to  make  himself  quite  indispensable  to  the  party  who  placed 

themselves    under    bis    guid- 


ance. What  he  did  not  know 
about  the  land  through  which 
we  journeyed  was  evidently 
not  worth  knowing,  in  his 
opinion,  and  he  managed  to 
impress  the  same  idea  upon  all 
of  us  who  listened  to  him. 

Pointing  out  of  the  win- 
dow, as  the  train  drew  a  little 
bevond  the  station  at  Jaffa, 
he  said,  "  There  is  the  place 
where  Samson  tied  the  foxes' 
tails  together  and  let  them 
loose  in  the  standing  corn. 
And  there,  just  over  the  bill, 
is  the  land  of  the  Philistines," 
he  informed  us,  with  the  ut- 
most confidence  in  his  own 
geographical  accuracy,  what- 
ever doubt  explorers  and 
scholars  might  feel  in  their 
own  conclusions. 

As  be  spoke  he  imparted 


ABDALLAH,  OUR  DRAGOMAN. 


his  confidence  to  all  the  party,  and  we  could  almost  see  a 
muscular  Goliath  showing  bis  shaggy  head  above  the  bill-top. 
"  Over  yonder,"  be  went  on  to  say,  "  is  the  place  where 
the  moon  stood  still  in  the  Yalley  of  Aijalon."  "  Ah,"  said 
we  to  ourselves,  "  now  we  have  got  you,  Mr.  Dragoman," 


LILIES    OF   THE    FIELD.  445 

and  half  a  dozen  voices  spoke  out  with  the  gleeful  assurance 
of  boys  who  have  caught  their  professor  napping;  "Oh, 
Abdallah,  you  have  made  a  mistake  this  time,  it  was  the  sun 
that  stood  still,  and  not  the  moon."  But  Abdallah  was  more 
than  a  match  for  the  professors  and  the  ministers  who  sought 
to  correct  him,  for,  whipping  out  a  pocket  Bible,  he  turned 
at  once  to  the  passage  and  read  from  the  twelfth  verse  of  the 
tenth  chapter  of  Joshua  :  "  Then  spake  Joshua  to  the  Lord 
in  the  day  when  the  Lord  delivered  up  the  Amorites  before 
the  children  of  Israel.  And  he  said  in  the  sight  of  Israel, 
Sun,  stand  thou  still  upon  Gibeon,  and  thou.  Moon,  in  the 
Yalley  of  Aijalon.  And  the  sun  stood  still,  and  the  moon 
stayed,  until  the  nation  had  avenged  themselves  of  their  ene- 
mies." Evidently,  Abdallah  had  the  Book  on  his  side  and 
there  was  nothing  for  the  Reverend  Divines  to  do  but  to 
subside  and  to  look  more  dignified  than  they  felt. 

For  the  first  few  miles  out  of  Jerusalem  the  railway  runs 
over  smiling,  cultivated  fields,  green  w^hen  we  saw  them  with 
the  rich  verdure  of  springtime,  and  gay  with  the  rose  of 
Sharon,  for  this  is  none  other  than  the  celebrated  land  of 
Sharon  of  Bible  times.  Another  brilliant  flower  which  is 
found  in  the  utmost  profusion,  is  the  scarlet  anemone, 
called  in  Matthew,  "  the  lily  of  the  field,"  of  which  Christ 
said :  ''  Behold  the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  thev  g-row,  for 
they  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin,  and  yet  I  say  unto  you, 
that  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of 
these." 

At  the  infrequent  stations  where  the  train  stopped,  ihak- 
ing  up  for  their  infrequence,  however,  by  a  long  stop  at  every 
station,  the  passengers  would  get  out  and  pluck  great  hand- 
fuls  of  these  beautiful  flowers.  Then  the  dapper  little  con- 
ductor with  his  red  fez,  and  the  inevitable  cigarette  in  his 
mouth,  would  wave  his  hand  and  off  would  start  the  train 


446  OVER   THE   MOUNTAINS   OF  PALESTINE. 

across  other  historic  scenes  wliose  very  thought  filled  our 
hearts  Avith  emotions  which  cannot  be  recorded,  as  we  remem- 
bered that  we  were  in  the  land  of  David  and  Solomon  and 
Samuel  and  Joshua,  and  that  we  were  approaching  the  city 
whose  rough  pavements  had  been  pressed  by  the  feet  of  our 
blessed  Lord  and  Saviour. 

A  few  miles  from  Jaffa  the  railway  begins  to  ascend  a 
steep  and  rugged  mountain  side,  and  for  the  rest  of  the 
journey  it  climbs  over  the  hills  and  rumbles  through  rocky 
chasms  that  would  not  discredit  the  heights  of  the  Rockies 
or  the  Sierra  ISTevadas  themselves.  Even  where  railwavs  are 
common,  this  rock-built  roadway,  twisting  around  the  base 
of  perpendicular  crags,  and  toiling  by  slow  approaches  over 
the  flanks  of  inhospitable  mountains,  would  be  considered  no 
ordinary  feat  of  engineering ;  there  in  this  land  of  oppression 
and  hopelessness,  any  such  enterprise  is  truly  marvelous. 

"When  we  remember  that  thirty  years  ago  there  was  no 
"wheeled  vehicle  of  any  kind  in  Palestine ;  when  we  remember 
not  only  the  engineering  difficulties,  but  the  governmental 
obstacles  which  Avere  thrown  in  the  way  of  this  railroad,  and 
the  innumerable  petty  hindrances  Avhich  it  met,  our  only 
marvel  is,  that  its  projectors  persevered,  and  that  now  the 
modern  locomotive  and  railway  train  rumble  up  to  the  very 
w^alls  of  the  City  of  David. 

Not  only  France,  but  England,  Germany,  Sweden,  and  | 
Italy,  as  well  as  Syria  and  Turkey,  were  represented  in 
some  part  of  the  construction  or  equipment  of  this  road ; 
Avhile  America  is  not  left  out,  for  engines  from  the  Baldwin 
Locomotive  Works  rumble  up  these  steep  grades,  and  shriek 
with  their  shrill  whistles  at  every  dangerous  crossing. 

Thus,  each  one  among  the  cosmopolitan  list  of  passengers 
who  daily  patronize  this  road,  may  feel  that  he  has  some 
especial  interest  in  its  welfare. 


CHAPTER  XXIY. 

"JERUSALEM,  JERUSALEM"— OUR  SOJOURN  IN  THE  LAND 
OF  SACRED  STORY -INTERESTING  SCENES  AND  TOUCH- 
ING MEMORIES. 

The  Brakeman's  Announcement  —  Incongruous  Modernism  —  Entering 
Jerusalem  — Tlirouging  Emotions  —  "  Tlie  Joy  of  tlie  Wliole  Earth  "  — 
A  Walk  within  the  Walls  — The  Modern  City  — A  Pathetic  Story  — 
Plunging  into  the  Heart  of  the  City  —  The  Various  Shops  —  Silverware 
from  Damascus  —  Shylock  in  Jerusalem  —  A  Suggestion  of  White-Caps 
—  The  Camel  and  His  Sneering  Uuderlip  —  The  Dignified  Syrian  —  'I'he 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  —  A  Checkered  History  —  The  Stone 
of  Unction  —  A  Touching  Bible  Story  —  Measuring  the  Stone  for  Their 
Winding  Sheet  —  Our  Lord's  Tomb  —  The  Great  Unwashed  —  How 
Adam  Came  to  Life  —  The  Cleft  in  the  Rock  —  An  Impressive  Spec- 
tacle—  A  Disgraceful  Easter  Scene  —  An  Awful  Accident. 


ERUSALEM,  Jerusalem,"  cries  out 
the  railway  guard,  and  amid  the 
noise  and  bustle  that  always  sur- 
rounds a  station,  the  cracking  of 
whips  of  the  impatient  cab-drivers, 
the  snorting  of  the  locomotives 
that  run  back  and  forth,  making 
up  their  empty  train,  the  trundling 
of  trucks,  and  the  tumbling  about 
of  baggage,  we  have  our  first  intro- 
duction to  the  Holy  City. 

Could  anything  be  more  incon- 
gruous? is  our  first  thought,  and  we  are  inclined  to  wish 
that  \ve  had  followed  the  example  of  our  friend  of  whom  I 
wrote  in  the  last  chapter,  and  had  ridden  into  Jerusalem 
more  as  the  Master  of  old  rode  into  the  city,  even  though  it 

( ^4^ ) 


448  A  FURROW  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE. 

% 

might  be  under  lowering  skies  and  in  drenching  rain.  How- 
ever, these  are  only  the  passing  thoughts  of  the  anxious  trav- 
eler who  is  naturally  solicitous  for  his  trunk  and  his  valise, 
his  bandbox  and  his  bundle,  and  who  knows  not  what  sort  of 
lodging  may  await  him  at  his  journey's  end. 

After  all,  Jerusalem  cannot  be  dwarfed  or  diminished  by 
any  such  scenes  of  modern  bustle  and  commotion.  There 
stands  the  city  proudly  on  its  hills  as  of  yore.  It  has  with- 
stood the  decay  of  centuries,  the  tramp  of  conquering  armies, 
the  vandalism  of  the  Saracen,  and  the  destruction  that  comes 
in  the  wake  of  war  and  pestilence  and  conquest.  How  can 
it  be  affected  then  by  this  puny  invention  of  the  nineteenth 
century  ?  The  much  boasted  railway  makes  but  a  scratch  on 
the  side  of  the  eternal  hills.  Viewed  from  a  little  distance, 
it  seems  to  turn  but  a  single  furrow  on  the  vast  landscape, 
which  is  as  wide  as  the  horizon  on  either  side.  The  wearied 
train  that  crawls  slowly  u])  the  hills  looks  like  a  mere  speck 
when  viewed  from  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  —  a  fly  upon  the 
nose  of  the  Sphinx,  a  beetle  on  the  face  of  the  pyramids.  It 
does  not  affect  the  real  life  of  Jerusalem. 

The  railway  stops  short,  and  it  is  well  that  it  should,  a 
good  mile  from  the  city,  and,  getting  into  rickety  carriages, 
wliieii  have  evidentlv  done  duty  in  some  more  civilized  com- 
munity, we  have  come  at  last  to  our  hotel  at  the  gates  of  the 
most  famous  citv  in  the  world.  I  do  not  envv  the  man 
whose  heart  does  not  beat  a  little  faster,  and  whose  pulses  do 
not  thrill  as  he  approaches  the  Jaffa  gate  and  sees  the  Tower 
of  David  rearing  its  massive  head  above  the  time-stained 
walls  of  the  city.  As  he  remembers  all  that  has  occurred 
within  those  Avails  ;  as  he  calls  to  mind  that  here  Da^^id  sang 
and  Solomon  held  his  court ;  that  here  the  Queen  of  Sheba 
was  obliged  to  declare,  as  she  looked  on  all  the  treasures  that 
had  been  gathered  together,  that  the  half  had  not  been  told 


■  (P      h-I 


"beautiful  for  situation."  451 

her  of  the  riches  that  were  heaped  within  those  walls ;  as  he 
remembers  the  prophets  who  here  spoke  the  warning  words 
of  God,  of  ]N^ehemiah  who  reared  again  the  prostrate  walls, 
of  the  people  who  worked  willingly,  sword  in  one  hand  and 
trowel  in  the  other,  to  bring  back  the  ancient  glory  to  the 
deserted  city ;  above  all,  as  one  remembers  the  Divine  trag- 
edy that  was  here  enacted  of  the  trial,  the  scourging,  the 
indignities  and  cross-bearing  of  the  Son  of  God  ;  he  must  be 
dull  and  insensate,  indeed,  who  looks  on  Jerusalem  for  the 
first  time  unmoved. 

But  even  were  there  here  no  supreme  historical  associa- 
tions for  the  Christian,  Jerusalem  would  even  be  an  interest- 
ing city.  Even  then  would  the  sentiment  of  the  Psalmist  be 
true,  that  she  is  beautiful  for  situation,  even  if  not  at  present 
the  joy  of  the  whole  earth.  Imagine  a  bare  and  rocky 
plateau,  thickh^  studded  with  stone  houses,  and  surrounded 
to  the  very  edge,  where  it  dips  off  into  the  steep  valley,  by  a 
high  wall.  On  all  sides  imagine  bleak,  gray,  granite  hills, 
overtopping  the  plateau.  Imagine  between  these  distant 
hills  and  this  little  table-land  on  which  we  are  standing, 
black  and  cavernous  valleys,  the  upper  and  lower  pools  of 
Gihon  on  one  side,  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat  on  another, 
running  into  the  valley  of  the  Ivedron  to  the  east.  Every- 
where imagine  bare,  precipitous  hills,  scowling  rocks  denuded 
of  all  soil  and  vegetation,  gray  and  forbidding  but  majestic 
in  their  very  barrenness,  and  you  have  a  picture,  drawn  very 
imperfectly  and  rudely,  to  be  sure,  but  giving  some  rough 
idea  of  modern  Jerusalem. 

In  ancient  days  there  was  doubtless  much  more  here  to 
make  the  heart  glad.  The  hills  were  covered  with  smiling 
vineyards,  terraces  rising  tier  above  tier  on  the  iiillside 
afforded  standing  ground  for  corn  and  grain  and  various 
vegetation ;   frequent  villages   dotted   the  hillsides  and  the 


452  PROUD,  EVEN  IN  DECAY, 

valleys :  and,  in  every  way,  the  country  showed  that  it  was 
not  unworthy  of  the  eulogies  pronounced  upon  it,  the  lanil  of 
milk  and  honey,  of  corn  and  wine,  and  of  everything  that 
typified  prosperit3\ 

But  the  feet  of  trampling  armies  have  done  their  work, 
the  oppression  of  tyrannical  governments  and  the  gradual 
deca}^  of  national  spirit  have  reduced  the  land  to  a  poyerty- 
stricken  dependency  of  the  Sublime  Porte.  The  mighty  are 
fallen,  indeed,  but  with  all  these  changes,  political,  industrial, 
and  agricultural,  Jerusalem  still  rears  its  proud  head  among 
the  surrounding;  valleys,  and  even  in  its  decay  and  ruin  tells 
every  passing  traveler  what  a  lordly  city  it  used  to  be. 

From  without  nothing  could  be  prouder  or  grander  than 
this  city  of  the  kings ;  from  within  nothing  could  well  be 
meaner  or  more  beggarly.  Let  us  enter  by  the  Jaffa  gate. 
Even  when  well  within  the  walls  we  are  not  transported 
back  to  the  early  centuries  by  sudden  leaps  or  bounds,  for 
the  first  sign  that  stares  us  in  the  face  is  that  of  the  Prince 
of  Dragomans,  Thomas  Cook,  whose  name,  it  is  safe  to  say, 
is  more  familiar  than  that  of  any  other  man  in  the  far  East. 
Then  our  eyes  rest  upon  a  modern  hotel,  which  even  in  this 
ancient  city  rejoices  in  the  name  6f  "  The  l^ew^  Hotel."  In 
the  stores  beneath  this  hotel  and  on  the  streets  adjoining  are 
various  shops  where  all  kinds  of  articles  of  olive  wood  are 
sold,  —  candlesticks  and  inkstands,  penholders  and  book- 
racks,  and  every  possible  thing  that  can  be  carved  or  whittled 
out  of  the  beautifully-grained  olive  tree.  Here,  too,  we  find 
dealers  in  Bethlehem  mother-of-pearl,  and  in  Jerusalem 
crosses  of  silver,  in  phylacteries  and  ancient  manuscripts, 
and  all  kinds  of  bric-a-brac. 

But  these  places  have  comparativeh^  little  significance  or 
attraction  for  us.  As  soon  as  possible  we  will  diye  into  the 
heart  of  the  city  and  see  Jerusalem  as  it  is. 


THE   ANCIENT   FORTRESS  —  THE   MODERN   CITY.  453 


First,  however,  let  us  get  a  little  idea  of  the  history  of 
this  most  famous  cit}'  of  all  the  ages.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  the  city  is  Ijuilt  on  the  ancient  frontier  line  between 
Judah  and  Benjamin,  and  for  many  years  before  it  was  made 
the  capital  of  Judea  by  the  conquest  of  David,  it  was  a 
strong  fortress  of  the  ancient  Canaanites.  Some  have  su]-)- 
posed  that  it  was  a  very  large  city  even  before  David's  time  ; 
but  it  is  altogether  probable  that  it  was  only  one  of  the 
many  mountain  fortresses  that  were  found  in  different  parts 
of  Palestine,  and  which  were  used  as  places  of  refuge  in  the 
stormy  times  that  prevailed. 

But  the  conquest  of  the  city  by  David  and  its  magnificent 
enlargement  and  embellishment  by  Solomon  made  it  ''the 
joy  of  the  whole  earth,"  and  this,  in  a  religious  sense,  it  has 
continued  to  be  to  millions  of  devout  hearts,  in  spite  of  sieges, 
wars,  famines,  and  manifold  disasters. 

The  modern  city  may  be  said  to  date  from  the  time  of 
the  Crusades,  for  the  principal  streets  are  the  same  now  as 
in  the  Twelfth  Century.  They  are  arched  over  in  many 
places,  and  the  markets  and  parts  of  the  Via  Dolorosa  are 
completely  covered.  There  are  now  four  quarters,  of  which 
the  Mohammedans  occupy  the  northeast,  the  Jews  the 
southeast,  the  Armenians  the  southwest,  and  the  Christians 
the  northwest ;  the  most  disreputable,  uncleanly  of  all  being 
the  Jewish  quarters.  For  many  years  the  population 
steadily  decreased  until,  in  1838,  but  11,000  people  re- 
mained. Xow,  however,  within  the  walls  and  without, 
there  are  some  47,000  people,  of  whom  27,000  are  Jews. 
Comparatively  small  as  is  the  Jewish  population  in  this 
spiritual  capital  of  Judaism,  it  is  far  larger  than  in  former 
years,  and  at  the  present  rate  of  increase  it  is  only  a  matter 
of  time  before  the  cry,  "  Jerusalem  for  the  Jews,"  will  be 
sometliing  more  than  an  empty  sentiment. 


454  JERUSALEM   AT   THE   EASTER   FESTIVAL. 

A  pathetic  story  tells  us  that  six  hundred  years  ago  there 
Avere  not  Jews  enough  in  Jerusalem  to  make  up  an  audience 
for  a  synagogue  meeting,  which,  according  to  their  law,  re- 
quires ten  persons,  and  when  in  despair  the  nine  forlorn 
strangers  came  together  in  the  home-land  of  their  fathers, 
wailing  and  lamentation  was  heard  because  there  were  not 
enough  of  them  in  the  once  proud  city  to  conduct  the  service 
according  to  their  usual  form.  Just  at  this  juncture,  when 
their  depression  and  sorrow  was  at  its  height,  the  tradition 
goes  on  to  say  that  Elijah  appeared,  making  the  tenth  per- 
son in  the  company,  and  at  the  same  time  making  the  meet- 
ing possible. 

At  certain  periods  of  the  year  the  po]3ulation  is  very 
largely  increased  by  visiting  pilgrims,  several  thousands  of 
whom  come,  especially  at  Easter  time,  to  w^orship  in  the 
sacred  city.     On  this  occasion,  as  has  been  said  by  a  traveler 
Mdio  recently  visited  the   city   at   the   time   of  this   great 
festival :     "  The  streets  of  Jerusalem  present  a  strange  spec- 
tacle from  the  numerous  national  costumes  seen  together. 
The  European  tourists,  the  Turkish  nizam,  the  hooded  Ar- 
menian, the  long-haired  Greek  monk,  are  mingled  with  the 
native  peasants  in  yellow  turbans  and  striped  mantles,  with 
Armenian  pilgrims   wearing    broad    red    sashes,   Jews    in 
Oriental  costume  or  with  the  fur  cap  and  lovelocks  of  the 
Pharisee,   Prussians  in  knee   boots   and   padded   robes,   and 
native    ladies    in    white    mantles    and  black    veils.       The 
architecture    of  the   city,    Oriental,    Gothic,   Byzantine,   or 
Italian,  tells  the  same  story  — that  Jerusalem  has  been  for 
eighteen  centuries  a  holy  city  in  the  eyes  of  Jew,  Christian, 
and   Moslem   alike,   and   the   religious   center   of    half  the 
world." 

But  let  us  plunge  into  the  heart  of  the  city,  not  at  Easter- 
tide when  it  has  on  its  holidav  attire,  but  on  an  ordinary  day 


THE  CITY  S   EVERYDAY  ASPECT. 


455 


of  the  year,  when  Jerusalem,  so  to  speak,  is  in  its  working 
clothes,  and  very  dirty  workino^  clothes  they  are.  The 
narrow  streets  are  filled  with  rubbish  and  dirt  which,  after 
a  soaking  rain,  render  them  almost  impassable.     The  narrow 


BEGGING   DEKTISHES,    JERUSALEM. 

side  streets  are  worse  still,  for  garbage  of  eyery  kind,  cats, 
dead  and  aliye,  goats,  cattle,  and  donkeys  make  locomotion 
anything  but  a  luxury. 

If  not  a  luxury,  however,  a  walk  through  Jerusalem  is  at 
least  full  of  absorbing  interest.  Some  of  the  streets,  as  has 
been  said,  are  completely  roofed  oyer,  and  the  traveler  feels 


456  STREET   SCENES   IN   THE   HOLY   CITY. 

that  he  is  Avaiking  through  a  continuous  market-place,  with 
little  stalls  on  either  side  for  the  sale  of  an  almost  unimacrin- 
able  variety  of  goods.  Amber  beads  occupy  one  stall,  and  a 
hundred  strings  hanging  from  the  roof  and  dangling  from 
the  sides  tempt  to  a  purchase  the  lover  of  this  beautiful  sub- 
stance. ISText,  perhaps,  is  a  shop  filled  with  old  shoes  in  all 
varieties  of  dilapidation,  which  were  Avorn  out  ten  ^-ears  ago 
and  have  never  seen  blacking-brush  since  the  day  they  were 
made.  JSText  to  this  is  the  cavernous  den  of  a  baker,  with 
his  glowing  oven  in  the  rear,  from  which  he  pulls  out  every 
now  and  then,  with  a  wooden  shovel,  a  long  cake  of  dirty- 
looking  bread,  which  he  piles  up  on  the  counter  before  him 
like  so  much  cordwood  cut  into  three-feet  lengths. 

Next  to  the  baker  a  dealer  in  incense  has  his  shop,  for  the 
incense  merchant  is  an  important  personage  in  Jerusalem. 
His  wares  come  in  cakes  and  sticks  and  broken  nuggets,  and 
are  of  all  varieties  of  flavor  and  spiciness.  Isext  we  see  a 
dealer  in  crucifixes  and  religious  emblems,  and  horrible 
pictures  of  the  Sacred  Heart.  Still  another  shop  is  devoted 
to  rosaries ;  and  strings  of  beads  of  every  variety  and  com- 
plexion  and  substance  of  which  beads  can  be  made  are 
displayed  for  sale.  Then  comes  a  butcher's  shop,  possibly 
with  a  grinning  and  bloody  calf  s  head  protruding  over  the 
doorway,  as  a  sign  of  the  goods  that  are  kept  within. 
•  Here,  too,  are  the  dealers  in  the  beautiful  Bethlehem 
mother-of-pearl  work,  in  silver  ware  of  Damascus,  and  in- 
numerable shops  where  articles  carved  from  olive  wood  may 
be  purchased.  At  every  street  corner  is  the  money-changer 
with  his  little  pile  of  gold  and  silver  and  copper  before  him, 
ready  to  turn  your  napoleons  or  pounds  into  chereks  and 
mejidieh  at  a  most  ruinous  discount,  for  Shylock  has  his  own 
home  here  in  Jerusalem,  and  will  always  take  his  pound  of 
flesh  if  lip  can  get  it. 


THE   PASSING  CROWD.  457 

As  we  walk  along  the  streets  the  passers-bj  are  quite  as 
interesting  as  the  shops  on  either  hand.  Here  comes  a  lordly 
Kavass,  gorgeous  in  his  red  and  yellow  kafileh,  who  carries 
off  his  startlinof  costume  with  the  utmost  dio-nitv. 

There  are  few  people  in  the  world  who  can  stand  so  much 
barbaric  ornamentation  as  the  SN^rian  Kavass  without  betray- 
ing self-consciousness.  Behind  the  Kavass,  perhaps,  is  a 
veiled  beauty  robed  in  white  from  top  to  toe,  with  only  her 
black  eyes  peering  out  from  under  the  rim  of  her  head  gear. 
Sometimes  she  wears  a  black  mask  of  some  thin  material 
drawn  closely  over  her  face,  through  Avhich  she  can  see,  but 
behind  which  she  is  utterly  invisible  to  prying  eyes  that  may 
look  upon  her. 

In  any  other  city  it  would  be  startling  to  see  these  white- 
robed,  black-masked  creatures  suddenly  turn  a  corner  upon 
the  unsuspecting  traveler.  He  almost  imagines  that  he  is  in 
the  land  of  the  "  white  caps,"  and  that  the  masks  mean  mur- 
der and  robbery  and  all  kinds  of  personal  violence.  But  the 
maskers  noiselessly  glide  away  "\Wthout  offering  to  molest 
the  quietest  of  travelers.  Behind  them,  perhaps,  comes  a 
bego-ar  with  a  tale  of  woe  not  onlv  committed  to  heart,  but 
often  A\Titten  on  his  dirty,  repulsive  features  as  well. 

There  are,  of  course,  no  wheeled  vehicles  within  the  walls, 
for  the  narrow  streets  would  not  admit  of  such  carriages. 
All  the  loads  are  carried  bv  donkevs  or  camels,  or  on  the 
bra^^^ly  backs  of  men  and  women.  Often  we  meet  a  donkey 
scarcelv  bigger  than  a  Newfoundland  dog,  with  a  big  Turk 
or  Jew  sitting  far  back,  almost  on  its  very  tail,  while  the 
man's  feet  nearly  drag  on  the  ground  at  every  step.  These  big 
feet  he  keeps  swaying  back  and  forth,  and  at  every  move  of 
the  poor  little  animal  his  cruel  heels  dig  into  the  donkey's 
side  and  urge  him  to  further  exertion. 

The  camels  naturally  have  the  right  of  way  in  these  nar- 


458 
« 


CAMELS   AND   WATER   CARRIERS. 


-oo^ 


row  roads.  Their  huge  bulk  jireoccupies  the  whole  street. 
The  donkeys  have  to  make  themselves  small  in  side  passage- 
ways, while  pedestrians  flatten  themselves  against  the  wall 
on  either  side  as  best  they  can  and  let  the  splay-footed  ship 
of  the  desert,  with  his  sneering  under  lip  and  nose  high  in 
air,  showing  contempt  for  every  smaller  creature,  pass  through 
at  his  leisure. 

Behind  the  beffffars  and  the  camels  often  come  the  water- 
carriers,  their  goat-skins  almost 
bursting  with  a  dirty  liquid 
supposed  to  be  water,  and  that 
drips  upon  the  ground  from 
every  tiny  crevice.  Add  to 
these  objects,  sheep  and  many 
dogs,  and  children.  Wing  pro- 
miscuously about  the  streets  in 
everv  dirt v  doorwav,  and  crowd- 
ing  every  side  alley  from  wall 
to  wall,  and  you  have  some  idea 
of  Jerusalem  in  its  ever\^day 
apparel. 

After  all  is  said  there  is 
something  dignified  and  impres- 
sive about  manv  of  the  people 
whom  we  meet  in  the  streets, 
for  the  Syrian,  though  indolent 
and  deceitful,  is  polite  and  gen- 
tlemanlv  at  the  same  time.  When  he  meets  vou  and 
desires  a  word,  he  will  lay  his  right  hand  on  his  forehead, 
lips,  and  head,  for  a  moment,  which  means,  in  the  expressive 
symbolism  in  the  country,  "  in  thought,  word,  and  deed,  I 
am  your  servant."  If  he  wishes  to  show  special  respect,  he 
will  stoop  down  and  then  raise  his  right  hand  over  his  head. 


A    WATER    CARRIER. 


SACRED   ASSOCIATIONS.  459 

which  means  that  he  is  casting  dust  and  ashes  over  himself 
as  a  mark  of  humility.  But  he  does  all  this  with  such  a 
gracious  and  dignified  air  that,  servile  as  are  its  symbols,  he 
seems  to  be  doing  himself  an  honor  quite  as  much  as  the  one 
to  whom  he  speaks. 

Kow  let  us  view  the  people  of  Jerusalem  at  their  worship, 
for  in  the  churches  we  find  the  chief  characteristics  of  the 
Holy  City  underscored  and  accentuated. 

The  first  church  to  which  almost  every  traveler  wends 
his  way,  is  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  and  here  are 
crowded  together  more  traditions,  relics,  and  sacred  associa- 
tions than  in  any  place  of  similar  size  in  the  world.  Kot 
that  the  traditions  are  for  the  most  part  trustworth}",  not 
that  the  sacred  associations  are  really  associated  with  sacred 
facts ;  not  that  the  relics  are  free  from  suspicion  as  to  their 
genuineness,  but  despite  all  this  doubt  and  uncertainty,  the 
very  fact  that  devout  souls  of  many  nations,  however  mis- 
taken and  superstitious,  have  here  fed  their  faith  and  rever- 
ence for  generations  past,  make  it  in.  some  sense  a  holy 
place  to  those  who  come  after  them  in  succeeding  years. 

Whatever  may  be  the  absolute  facts  in  the  case,  and  they 
are  very  diflicult  to  determine,  millions  of  devout  hearts  have 
believed  that  under  the  roof  which  covers  the  Church  of  the 
Sepulchre  is  the  spot  where  our  Lord  was  crucified,  the 
very  stone  on  which  he  was  laid  for  burial,  the  new  tomb  of 
rock  in  which  He  was  placed  when  He  descended  into  hades, 
the  stone  on  which  He  sat  when  He  was  crowned  with 
thorns  and  scourged  with  thongs,  and  the  stocks  in  which 
His  feet  were  thrust  during  the  cruel  nio-ht  of  trial. 

Every  other  sacred  tradition  which  could  find  lodgment 
has  been  crowded  into  this  one  spot,  even  to  the  tomb  of 
Adam  himself,  which  is  located  here. 

To  be  sure,  it  is  altogether  probable  that  the  place  of 


460  THE   CHURCH   OF   THE    HOLY   SEf'ULCHRE. 

crucifixion  was  nearly  half  a  mile  away,  outside  the  walls  of 
the  present  city.  The  sacred  places  and  relics  within  the 
church  rest  upon  a  very  shaky  tradition,  to  the  effect  that 
Helena,  the  mother  of  Constantine,  had  a  dream  that  here 
she  should  find  the  true  cross.  Causino-  her  servants  to  dig; 
in  the  place  the  dream  indicated,  she  found  not  one  cross,  but 
three,  one  of  which  spoke  to  her,  and  by  this  token,  she  knew 
that  it  was  the  true  cross. 

On  this  poor  and  meagre  soil,  which  bears  upon  its  very 
face  the  marks  of  its  untrustworthiness,  are  the  traditions  of 
the  sacred  place  built,  and  yet  they  have  been  hallowed 
by  the  faith,  the  prayers,  and  tears,  and  rapturous  jo}'  of 
myriads  of  pilgrims. 

It  is  very  sure  that  near  this  place,  if  not  upon  this  actual 
site,  our  Lord  suffered  and  bled  and  died.  These  monu- 
ments which  are  here  erected  give  the  eye  of  faith  something- 
visible  to  behold,  and  the  heart  something:  tang-ible  to  clino: 
to,  and,  if  one  can  but  prevent  his  reverence  from  degener- 
ating into  superstitious  awe,  his  soul  will  surely  be  blessed 
by  a  visit  to  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

One  thing  is  certain,  a  sumptuously  decorated  church  was 
erected  here  in  the  early  part  of  the  fourth  century,  and  even 
then  it  was  supposed  to  cover  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

Many  ups  and  downs,  destructions,  and  rebuildings  have 
come  to  this  famous  church.  In  61-t  it  was  destroyed  by  the 
Persians.  It  v\'as  immediately  rebuilt  and  was  over  and  over 
again  destroyed  or  greatly  damaged  by  the  Moslems.  In 
1099,  the  Crusaders  entered  the  church,  and  what  a  pictur- 
esque sight  it  must  have  been  when,  barefooted  and  ragged, 
but  bearing  crowns  of  palms  and  uttering  songs  of  praise,  in 
the  last  year  of  the  eleventh  century  which  had  seen  such 
heroic  struggles  to  regain  the  holy  city,  they  marched  in 
under  the  dome  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 


VIGILANT   TURKISH   GUARDS.  4G1 

As  can  be  easily  imaoiiied,  they  ^ve^e  not  content  with 
the  meag-re  little  church  which  the}"  found  guarding  the 
holy  tomb,  so  they  enlarged  it  and  beautified  it  and  built 
many  chapels  around  it. 

A  century  later  the  Arabs  nearly  destroyed  the  buildings 
once  more. 

Again  the  warriors  of  the  Third  Crusade  rebuilt  it. 

Fifty  years  later  it  was  ag-ain  destroyed,  only  to  be 
rebuilt  during:  the  next  half  century.  Thus  it  met  with 
many  fluctuations  of  fortune,  good  and  bad,  until,  in  180S,  it 
was  entirely  burned  down,  the  dome  fell  in  and  crushed  the 
chapel  and  almost  nothing  was  sayed  except  the  east  wing 
of  the  buildino-.  But  two  years  later  the  Greeks  and  Ar- 
menians  erected  a  new  church,  which  is  substantially  the  one 
which  we  are  now  to  yisit. 

As  we  enter,  the  first  persons  whom  we  see  are  not  the 
pilgrims  who  haye  come  from  all  parts  of  the  world  to  do 
honor  to  their  Lord,  but  the  Turkish  guards  who  haye 
charge  of  the  place,  and  we  are  sadly  reminded  of  the  fact 
that  the  Greek  and  Latin  and  Armenian  Christians  cannot 
be  trusted  to  live  together  in  unity,  eyen  within  sight  of  the 
place  of  their  Lord's  supreme  sufferings,  but  must  be  kept 
from  knocking  each  other's  heads  and  cutting  each  other's 
throats  by  a  cordon  of  Mohammedan  custodians,  who  are 
neyer  able  to  relax  their  yigilance  lest  the  Christians  come 
to  blo^ys. 

The  first  sacred  oijject  that  we  see  is  the  stone  of  unction 
or  anointment  on  which  tiie  body  of  Jesus  is  said  to  haye 
been  laid  when  it  was  anointed  by  Xicodemus. 

Let  us  recall  the  pathetic  story.  -After  this"  (after 
our  Lord's  death)  says  the  Sacred  Xarratiye,  ''Joseph 
of  Arimathea  being  a  disciple  of  Jesus,  but  secretly  for  fear 
of  the  Jews,  besouo-ht  Pilate  that  he  mig-ht  take  away  the 

38 


462  WHEKE   THE  BODY   OF  JESUS  WAS   LAID. 

body  of  Jesus,  and  Pilate  gave  him  leave.  He  came,  there- 
fore, and  took  the  bodv  of  Jesus,  and  there  came  also  Nico- 
demus,  which  at  first  came  to  Jesus  by  night,  and  brought  a 
mixture  of  myrrh  and  aloes,  about  an  hundred  pounds 
Aveight.  Then  took  they  the  bod}^  of  Jesus,  and  wound  it  in 
linen  cloths  with  the  spices,  as  the  manner  of  the  Jews  is  to 
bury." 

How  often  in  imagination  we  have  seen  this  pathetic 
picture  when  just  at  twilight  beside  the  new  rock  tomb  these 
two  secret  disciples  of  Jesus  came  to  do  their  last  reverence 
to  Him  whom  in  life  thev  loved  but  never  dared  to  own. 

They  were  both  noted  men  and  members  of  the  San- 
hedrin.  They  both  recognized  in  Jesus  the  spotless  Lamb  of 
God.  Their  hearts  had  been  touched  by  His  holy  life  and  by 
His  gentle  words,  but  not  until  He  died  for  them  and  for  all 
the  world  were  they  willing  to  acknowledge  their  secret 
faith.  But  then  they  came  together,  neither  apparently 
knowing  of  the  other's  intention,  to  bur}^  Him  who  had  re- 
ceived such  scant  reverence  in  His  life.  And  this  was  the 
spot  at  which  tradition  and  the  belief  of  innumerable  eccles- 
iastics said  they  met.  And  here  on  this  stone  over  which 
are  burning  many  gold  and  silver  lamps,  they  reverently 
laid  His  body. 

To  be  sure  it  detracts  from  our  interest  somewhat  to  be 
told  by  our  guide-book  that  this  stone  has  often  been 
changed  and  has  been  in  the  possession  of  numerous  re- 
ligious communities  in  succession.  In  the  fifteenth  century 
it  belonged  to  the  Copts,  in  the  sixteenth  to  the  Gregorians, 
from  whom  the  Latins  purchased  permissions  for  5,000 
piastres  to  burn  candles  upon  it.  The  present  stone,  this 
same  hard-hearted  guide-book  goes  on  to  say,  is  of  reddish 
yellow  marble,  eight  and  a  half  feet  long,  four  feet  broad, 
and  was  placed  here  in  1808. 


THE   angel's   room.  463 

But  what  care  we  for  its  dimensions  to  an  inch  ?  "Who 
Avoukl  care  to  know  of  its  geologic  formation!'  How  im- 
pertinent are  vulgar  facts  when  we  remember  that  upon 
this  stone  have  fallen  the  hot  tears  of  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  pilgrims,  that  it  has  been  passionately  kissed  by  myriads 
of  devoted  lips,  and  has  received  the  consecration  vows 
of  a  multitude  of  devout  hearts  whose  creeds  indeed  are 
different,  but  whose  love  for  the  supreme  Lord  never  wanes. 

A  pathetic  touch  of  interest  is  added  to  this  stone  when 
we  remember  that  formerly  pilgrims  were  in  the  habit  of 
measuring  it  with  a  view  to  having  their  winding  sheets 
made  of  the  same  length. 

A  few  steps  to  the  left  of  the  stone  of  unction  we  see  a 
small  enclosure  built  around  a  stone,  which  is  said  to  mark  a 
spot  where  the  women  stood  and  watched  the  anointing  of 
Christ's  body. 

As  we  go  on  toward  the  center  of  the  church  we  come  to 
the  supreme  object  of  worship,  none  other  than  the  spot  which 
is  believed  to  be  the  j^lace  where  our  Lord's  body  lay  in  its 
rock  cavern  for  three  days.  Over  this  spot  is  erected  a 
marble  chapel  which  in  some  respects  is  beautiful,  but  very 
much  marred  for  sober  eyes  by  the  amount  of  tinsel  and  the 
number  of  gewgaws  that  are  lavished  upon  it. 

The  first  part  of  the  chapel  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  is 
called  the  Angel's  Room.  In  the  center  is  a  stone  set  in 
marble,  which  our  guide  solemnly  avers  is  the  one  which 
the  angel  rolled  away  from  the  mouth  of  the  sepulchre  and 
on  which  he  afterwards  sat.  In  this  chapel  are  burning  fif- 
teen gold  and  silver  lamps,  five  of  which  belong  to  the 
Greeks,  five  to  the  Latins,  four  to  the  Armenians,  and  one  to 
the  Copts,  and  the  air  is  thick  and  heavy  with  burning  in- 
cense and  other  odors  which  are  more  easy  to  imagine  than 
to  describe. 


4G4  .     INTERESTING   BUT   ABSURD   TRADITIONS. 

But  even  yet  we  have  not  come  to  the  most  holy  place, 
for,  squeezing  through  a  very  low  and  narrow  door  which  is 
merely  a  hole  in  the  wall,  in  fact,  and  through  which  one  has 
to  back  in  a  very  undignified  attitude,  we  come  to  the  chapel 
of  the  sepulchre  itself. 

This  is  onlv  about  six  feet  bv  six  and  when  crowded  with 
half  a  dozen  people,  as  it  always  is,  it  can  be  imagined  that 
even  devotion  and  reverence  does  not  allow  one  to  tarry 
long,  since  the  half  dozen  other  pilgrims  besides  himself  are 
apt  to  be  greasy  Russians,  dirty  Copts,  filthy  Poles,  or  un- 
washed Italians. 

All  around  this  central  and  most  sacred  chapel  are  other 
chapels  of  less  significance  and  holiness,  but  yet  each  one  of 
which  enshrines  some  interesting  tradition.  Here,  for  in- 
stance, is  the  chapel  of  Saint  Longinus,  the  soldier  who 
pierced  Christ's  side  with  his  spear.  The  tradition  says  that 
he  had  been  blind  of  one  eve,  but  that  some  of  the  water 
and  blood  from  the  side  of  our  Lord  spurted  into  his  blind 
eye  and  he  recovered  sight,  whereupon  he  repented  and 
became  a  Christian.  Kext  is  "  The  Chapel  of  the  Parting  of 
the  Kaiment,"  whose  name  indicates  the  tradition  associated 
with  it. 

Then  "  The  Chapel  of  the  Crowning  with  Thorns,"  where 
the  very  stone  is  shown  on  which  Christ  sat  when  the  cruel 
thorns  were  crowded  upon  His  brow.  Here,  also,  are  such 
chapels  as  Saint  Mary,  dedicated  to  the  Virgin,  the  chapel  of 
Adam,  where  tradition  savs  the  first  man  was  buried,  though 
how  liis  bones  came  to  be  transported  to  Palestine  nobody 
seems  to  know.  But  no  tradition  is  too  wild  or  absurd  for  the 
credulous  people  Avho  cluster  here  to  believe,  and  they 
solemnly  assure  us  that  when  Christ  was  crucified  His  blood 
flowed  through  a  cleft  in  the  rock  on  to  the  head  of  Adam, 
and  he  was  immediately  restored  to  life. 


THE   TRADITIONAL   GOLGOTHA.  465 

But  as  if  it  was  not  enough  to  bury  Adam  here  or  to 
invent  all  kinds  of  silly  traditions  about  our  great  forefather, 
they  have  placed  the  tomb  of  Melchizedek  here  also.  We 
have  not  yet  come  to  the  most  sacred  spot,  for  the  traditional 
Golgotha  yet  remains  to  be  visited. 

Catholic  historians  have  placed  not  only  the  tomb  and  the 
place  of  Christ's  suifering,  but  Mount  Calvary  itself  within 
the  limits  of  this  sanctuary.  It  may  very  naturally  bs  asked 
by  the  reader  how  this  can  be,  since  the  Bible  distinctly  tells 
us  that  Christ  suffered  "  without  the  walls." 

The  Papal  historian,  however,  is  ready  with  his  answer, 
for  he  tells  us  that  in  the  former  times  the  site  of  this  church 
was  outside  of  the  second  walls  of  Jerusalem,  and  that  the 
modern  walls  do  not  conform  to  the  ancient  predecessors. 
This  statement,  however,  must  be  received  with  a  very  large 
interrogation  point,  and  it  has  been  recently  jjroved,  all  but 
conclusively,  by  modern  scholars,  that  the  present  walls 
follow  the  ancient  outlines  very  nearly,  and  that  the  site  of 
the  church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  could  not  by  any  possi- 
bility ever  have  been  found  without  the  walls  of  the  city. 

However,  as  we  said  before,  this  spot  has  been  hallowed 
by  the  faith  of  innumerable  Christians  whose  belief  was  sup- 
ported, at  least  in  ancient  times,  by  very  scholarly  authority. 
Hundreds  of  books  have  been  written  on  the  subject  to  prove 
that  this  was  the  veritable  spot  where  our  Lord  bled,  suffered, 
and  died,  and  even  the  tradition-breaking  Protestant  need 
not  be  too  eager  to  disillusionize  the  world  when  he  comes 
within  these  sacred  precincts. 

Here  in  the  living  rock  we  see  an  opening  faced  with 
silver,  where  the  cross  on  which  our  Lord  died  was  said  to 
be  inserted.  Five  feet  distant  on  either  side  are  the  crosses 
of  the  two  thieves,  the  penitent  thief  on  the  right  and  the 
unpenitent  thief  on  the  left.     While  about  the  same  distance, 


466  THE   RIVEN   ROCK. 

covered  with  a  brass  slide,  is  the  cleft  in  the  rock  about 
which  Saint  Matthew  tells  us  in  these  solemn  words  :  "  Jesus, 
when  he  had  cried  again  witli  a  loud  voice,  yielded  up  the 
ghost ;  and,  behold  the  veil  of  the  temple  was  rent  in  twain 
from  the  top  to  the  bottom,  and  the  earth  did  quake,  and  the 
rocks  rent,  and  the  graves  were  opened,  and  many  bodies  of 
the  saints  which  slept  arose  and  came  out  of  the  graves  after 
His  resurrection  and  went  into  the  Holy  City,  and  appeared 
unto  many." 

This  cleft  is  said  by  the  superstitious  to  reach  to  the  very 
center  of  the  earth,  although  the  ]iractical  eye  of  the  scien- 
tific man  says  it  is  only  about  six  inches  deep. 

As  I  have  said,  when  we  visited  the  Holy  Sepulchre  it 
was  not  on  a  feast  day,  but  on  one  of  the  ordinary  Sundays 
of  the  year,  and  yet  it  Avas  a  strange  and  striking  scene 
which  we  beheld  even  then.  The  whole  floor  of  the  church 
seemed  to  be  filled  with  black-bearded  priests  in  gorgeous 
vestments  and  jew^eled  robes,  from  which  the  flashing  light 
of  the  innumerable  lamps  glanced  and  sparkled.  With 
solemn  intonations  and  measured  tread  they  marched  about 
the  Hol}^  Sepulchre,  slowly  waving  their  golden  lamps  and 
their  jeweled  vases,  from  which  the  smoking  incense  curled 
up  in  dense  clouds  to  heaven. 

Back  and  forth  and  around  they  marched,  solemnly 
chanting  their  dirges,  w^hile  the  wondering  crowd,  gathered 
from  every  quarter  of  the  world,  looked  on  in  awe-struck 
silence. 

Here  were  Koords  in  their  sheep-skins,  Russians  in  their 
pilgrim  rags,  Armenians  in  their  picturesque  meal-bag-like 
garments,  Greeks  in  their  curious  hats  and  skirts,  Europeans 
of  every  degree  of  civilization,  and  Asiatics  of  every  degree 
of  barbarism.  And  yet  all  were  drawn  together  by  a  com- 
mon sentiment. 


QUARRELSOME   PILGRIMS.  467 

Though  they  sometimes  fall  out  and  tight  among  them- 
selves like  cats  and  dogs,  yet,  after  all,  there  is  a  common 
purpose  manifested  to  honor  the  common  Lord,  and  to  do 
reverence  to  Him  who  died  for  all  the  world.  We  can 
almost  forgive  their  wranglings  and  disputings  as  we  see 
the  genuine  devotion  which  seems  to  till  many  of  the  hearts 
that  beat  under  the  rough  and  ragged  pilgrim's  garb.  There 
must  be  something  of  good  even  in  the  most  ignorant  and 
suspicious  of  them  all,  to  bring  them  on  this  long  and  toil- 
some pilgrimage  for  the  sake  of  doing  reverence  to  Ilini  to 
whom  their  hearts  are  blindly  reaching  out. 

If  we  have  some  regard,  however,  for  the  pilgrims  them- 
selves, we  have  very  little  patience  with  the  priests  and  relig- 
ious leaders  who  work  on  their  superstitions  and  trade  on 
their  prejudices. 

On  Easter  are  often  enacted  many  disorderly  scenes, 
which  produce  a  painful  impression  Avhen  the  Church 
of  the  Sepulchre  is  crowded  with  pilgrims  of  every  nation- 
ality, and  especially  when  the  so-called  miracle  of  the  "  holy 
fire  "  is  produced.  "  On  this  occasion  the  church  is  always 
crowded  "with  spectators,"  we  are  told.  "  It  is  said  that  the 
priests  besmear  the  wire  by  which  the  lamp  is  suspended 
over  the  sepulchre  with  resinous  oil,  and  that  this  oil  is  set 
on  fire  from  the  roof.  Large  sums  are  paid  to  the  priests  by 
those  who  are  the  first  to  be  allowed  to  light  their  tapers 
from  the  sacred  flame  sent  from  heaven.  The  wild  and 
noisy  scene  begins  on  Good  Friday.  The  crowd  passes  the 
night  in  the  church  in  order  to  secure  places,  some  of  them 
attaching  themselves  by  cords  to  the  sepulchre,  while  others 
run  round  it  in  anvthing  but  a  reverential  manner. 

"  About  two  o'clock  on  Easter  afternoon  a  procession  of 
the  superior  clergy  moves  around  the  sepulchre,  all  lamps 
having  been  carefully  extinguished  in  view  of  the  crowd. 


4G8 


THE   DESCENT   OF   THE   SACRED   FLAME. 


The  patriarch  enters  the  chapel  of  the  sepulchre,  while  the 
priests  pray  and  the  people  are  in  the  utmost  suspense. 

"  At  length  the  fire  which  has  come  down  from  heaven 
gleams  from  the  sepulchre,  the  priests  emerge  with  a  bundle 
of  burning  tapers  and  there  now  follows  an  indescribable 
tumult,  every  one  endeavoring  to  be  the  first  to  get  his  taper 
lighted.  Even  from  the  gallery,  tapers  are  let  down  to  be 
lighted,  and  in  a  few  seconds,  the  whole  church  is  illuminated. 
This  however,  never  happens  without  fighting,  and  accidents 
generally  occur  owing  to  the  crush." 

In  1834  an  awful  accident  occurred.  Six  thousand  peo- 
ple were  in  the  church,  when  the  Turkish  guards,  thinking 
they  were  attacked,  sprang  upon  the  pilgrims,  beat  many  of 
them  to  death,  and  in  the  scuflle  that  followed,  three  hun- 
dred lives  were  lost. 

Yet,  with  all  these  excrescences  and  unpleasant  manifes- 
tations of  religious  zeal  and  fanaticism,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  there  is  something  intensely  real  to  all  these  pil- 
grims in  these  traditional  sights.  People  do  not  undergo 
sufferings  to  see  that  which  they  do  not  believe  with  intense 
devotion.  They  will  not  fight  for  that  which  does  not  appeal 
strongly  to  their  faith  and  love,  and  even  the  disgraceful 
riots  which  have  blotted  the  history  of  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre  more  than  once,  show  the  abiding  strength 
and  dominating  influence  of  the  cross  of  Christ  over  the  lives 
of  the  world's  millions. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

A  MEMORABLE  WALK. 

The  Via  Dolorosa  —  Fourteen  Stations  on  the  Way  to  the  Cross  —  St.  Veron- 
ica and  Her  Handkerchief  —  Some  Touching  Inscriptions  —  Outside  tha 
Gates  —  Our  Golgotha  —  "  The  Green  Hill  Far  Away."  Gethsemane  — 
The  Stone  of  Treason  —  A  Wonderful  View  —  Our  Lord's  Broken- 
Hearted  Lament  —  The  Russian  Tower  —  The  Dead  Sea  —  A  Marvelous 
Mirror  —  Absalom's  Tomb  —  The  Fate  of  an  Unfilial  Reprobate  —  The 
cave  of  Adullam  —  Nebo  and  Its  Lonely  Grave— The  Village  of  Mary  and 
Martha—  The  Greatest  Miracle  of  the  Ages  —  "  Dis  Way  to  de  Tomb 
of  Lazaroos  "  —  The  Wretched  Inhabitants  of  Modern  Bethany  —  The 
Tomb  of  Rachel  —  Where  Our  Lord  was  Born  —  The  ]\Iarble  Cradle  — 
An  Impressive  Sight  —  Wrangling  Christians  —  Turkish  Guards  at  Our 
Lord's  Cradle  —  A  Sad  Suggestion. 


KE  of  the  most  impressive  and 
memorable  walks  that  Ave  took 
within  the  Holy  City  led  us  along 
the  Via  Dolorosa,  through  St. 
Stephen's  gate,  thence  out  to  the 
Mount  of  Olives  and  Bethany. 
Before  we  leave  the  sacred  city, 
let  us  all  take  such  a  walk  to- 
gether. 

This    traditional    "  Street    of 
Pain  "  seems  worthy  of  its  name, 
for  it  is  a  dark  and  gloomy  road- 
way,  arched  overhead   through   much   of  its   course   with 
vaulted  roofs,  and  reminding  one  at  almost  every  footstep  of 
the  suffering  and  indignities  endured  by  the  Son  of  Man. 
To  be  sure,  the  ancient  Way  of  the  Cross,  even  if  it  fol- 

(469) 


470 


ALONG  THE   WAY   OF   THE   CROSS, 


lowed  the  general  line  of  the  modern  street,  which  is  by  no 
means  certain,  must  have  been  many  feet  below  the  surface 
of  the  present  roadway,  for  the  accumulated  rubbish  of  the 
ages  and  the  many  sieges  to  which  Jerusalem  has  been  sub- 
ject have  buried  the  old  city  from  ten  to  forty  feet  below  the 
modern  city. 

However,  from  very  early  centuries,  the  w^ay  which  our 

Lord  took  as  He  bore 
the  cross  to  his  own 
crucifixion,  has  been 
supposed  to  follow 
the  general  direction 
of  this  street. 

Ecclesiastical  au- 
thorities have  estab- 
lished what  they  call 
"  stations,"  at  points 
which  are  supposed 
to  represent  some 
particular  event  in 
the  sad  journey  of 
Jesus  to  the  cross. 
There  are  fourteen  of 
these  stations  in  all. 


A   STREET   IN   JERUSALEM, 


One  of  them  indicates  the  spot  where  Simon  of  Gyrene  took 
the  cross  from  Christ.  Another  Avhere  St,  Yeronica  wiped 
the  sweat  from  our  Saviour's  brow,  the  image  of  his  face 
being  imprinted  on  her  handkerchief  forever  afterwards. 
The  eleventh,  twelfth,  thirteenth,  and  fourteenth  stations, 
are  in  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  itself,  to  which  the 
Yia  Dolorosa  leads,  and  shoAv  where  our  Lord  was  nailed  to 
the  cross,  Avhere  He  was  taken  from  the  cross,  and  finally 
where  He  was  laid  in  the  new  rock  tomb,  . 


INSCRIPTIONS   ON   THE   WALLS.  471 

Though  they  do  not  add  to  the  authenticity  of  the  events 
recorded,  yet  the  Latin  sentences  with  wliich  many  of  these 
stations  are  marked,  add  a  certain  dignity  and  appearance  of 
reality  to  the  street.  For  instance,  a  tablet  on  the  house 
which  is  called  the  House  of  Pontius  Pilate  reads  as  follows: 

Ad  Arcum  Ecce  Homo 
Ub-i  Pontius  Pilatus 
Christum 
Judceis  Tradidit  ut  crucifigeretur 

A  little  farther  on,  a  marble  slab  let  into  the  rough  wall  of 
the  street  tells  us : 

Locus  in  quo 
Apprehendit  Pilatus  Jesum 
et  Flagellant. 

While  near  the  outer  gate  we  find  the  inscription  : 

Et  Milites  Plecentes  Coronmn 
De  Spinis  imposuerunt. 

All  this  sonorous  Latin  simpl}^  tells  us  the  story  which  in 
simple  language  we  have  read  a  thousand  times  in  the  Nine- 
teenth chapter  of  John,  where  the  beloved  disciple  tells  us 
that  "  Pilate  therefore  took  Jesus  and  scourged  Him  and  the 
soldiers  platted  a  crown  of  thorns  and  put  it  upon  His  head. 
And  they  put  on  Him  a  purple  robe,  and  said.  Hail,  King  of 
the  Jews,  and  they  smote  Him  with  their  hands.  Pilate, 
therefore,  went  forth  again  and  said  unto  them.  Behold  I 
bring  Him  forth  to  you  that  you  may  know  that  I  find  no 
fault  in  Him.  Then  came  Jesus  forth  wearino:  the  crown  of 
thorns,  and  the  purple  robe,  and  Pilate  said  unto  them, 
Behold  the  man." 

l!^ow  we  are  not  far  from  the  wall  of  the  city,  and  pass- 
ing out  through  St.  Stephen's  gate,  which  is  surrounded  by 
cripples,  lepers,  and  beggars  in  all  stages  of  dilapidation  and 


472  THE    HILL    OF   THE    CRUCIFIXION. 

disease,  "\ve  find  ourselves  in  an  instant  out  of  the  reeking 
streets  of  the  filthy  city  in  the  sunlight  and  fresh  air  of 
God's  wide  country. 

Over  there,  a  little  to  the  left,  we  see  the  site  upon  which 
modern  Protestant  scholars  are  largely  agreed  is  the  site  of 
the  crucifixion  and  burial  of  Christ.  There,  indeed,  is  the 
"  green  hill  far  away,  without  the  city  wall."  There  is  the 
gently  rounding  hilltop  which  might  well  be  called  by  the 
picturesque  and  imaginative  Orientals  '*  the  place  of  the 
skull."  There,  underneath  this  hillside,  near  to  the  reputed 
grotto  of  Jeremiah,  is  a  rock  tomb,  hewn  out  of  the  solid 
stone,  a  tomb  Avhich  has  never  been  finished,  and  which 
answers  in  every  particular  to  what  we  might  expect  of 
Joseph's  new  tomb. 

Here  our  imagination  is  fuUv  satisfied.  Here  our  feelings 
of  reverent  devotion  ask  for  nothing  more.  There  is  no 
gaudy  church  with  its  tinsel  and  its  second-rate  paintings,  its 
mosaics  and  its  incense-scented  chapels  to  distract  our  minds 
and  Aveary  our  senses.  No  quarreling  bands  of  hostile 
Christians,  no  Moslem  guards  to  keep  the  peace  are  here 
required,  no  gorgeously  bedecked  priests  to  distract  our 
thoughts  from  the  Man  of  Sorrows  whom  they  ignorantly 
worship,  and  whose  life  of  suffering  for  mankind  they,  with 
their  elaborate  ceremonials,  obscure  rather  than  illumine. 

Here  is  nothing  over  our  heads  but  the  blue  arch  of 
heaven,  a  few  fleecy  clouds  sailing  across  it.  Under  our  feet 
is  the  green  grass  of  springtime,  the  daisies  and  the  anem- 
ones, the  lilies  of  the  valley,  and  all  the  flowers  of  the  field 
with  which  our  Lord  so  often  illustrated  His  discourses. 

To  be  sure,  on  this  very  hill  are  some  Mohammedan 
tombs  which  at  first  seem  to  desecrate  our  Golgotha,  but,  as 
we  think  of  it,  we  remember  that  if  it  were  not  for  these 
tombs   this  hill   would   doubtless  have  been   covered   with 


THE   GARDEN   OF   GETHSEMANE.  473 

buildings  and  the  site  entirely  lost  for  many  generations 
before  modern  scholars  could  have  identified  it  as  the  spot 
where  our  Saviour  suffered  His  last  agony  ;  so  from  this  point 
of  view  we  may  consider  these  Moslem  tombs  a  blessing  in 
disguise,  for  wherever  a  Mohammedan  is  buried  his  country- 
men regard  it  a  sacred  ground  for  all  the  future  ages. 

But  sweet  as  are  the  associations  of  this  hallowed  hill  we 
cannot  always  linger  here,  but  must  go  on  down  the  road 
which  leads  us  across  the  Yalley  of  Kedron  and  then  up  the 
slopes  of  the  Mount  of  Olives. 

On  the  further  side  of  the  valley  we  see  a  small  grove  of 
dark  and  gloomy  C3q3ress  trees,  and,  near  by,  a  number  of 
gnarled  and  twisted  olive  trees.  Almost  by  intuition  we  say 
to  ourselves  this  must  be  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane ;  and 
so  it  is. 

This  is  one  of  the  sacred  places  about  which  there  is  com- 
paratively little  dispute.  To  be  sure,  the  claim  of  the  monk 
who  shows  us  the  garden,  that  these  great  olive  trees  with 
trunks  "burst  from  age  and  shored  up  Avith  stones"  date 
from  the  time  of  Christ,  may  not  be  true,  and  it  is  possible 
that  the  actual  garden  which  saw  the  bloody  sweat  of  our 
Lord,  and  witnessed  his  as^onv  and  arrest  mav  not  have  been 
upon  this  very  spot ;  but,  undoubtedly,  it  was  near  to  this 
spot,  and  it  requires  no  stretch  of  imagination  to  believe  that 
the  checkered  moonlight  fell  through  the  branches  and 
leaves  of  these  very  olive  trees  on  the  night  when  the 
disciples  could  not  keep  open  their  sleepy  eyes  to  watch  with 
our  Lord  "  even  one  hour." 

AYe  can  readily  believe  that  at  this  very  spot  which  is 
pointed  out  to  us,  marked  to-day  by  the  fragment  of  a  stone 
column,  the  treacherous  Judas  kissed  our  Lord,  and  received 
therefor  his  thirty  pitiful  pieces  of  silver. 

A  sharp  climb  of  fifteen  minutes  brings  us  to  the  top  of 


474  A   SCENE   OF   SURPASSING   BEAUTY. 

the  Mount  of  Olives  from  the  garden  of  Gethsemane.  AVhen 
about  half  way  up  the  hill  we  turn  around  and  the  magnifi- 
cent view  bursts  upon  our  eyes.  There  is  the  Holy  City  en- 
closed by  its  four-square  walls.  There  is  Jerusalem,  "  the 
iov  of  the  whole  earth."  It  is  builded  "as  a  citv  which  is 
compact  together."  Its  squalidness  and  wretchedness  are  no 
lono-er  visible.  The  filth  of  its  narrow  streets  is  foro-otten. 
Its  walls  from  this  distance  look  indeed  like  the  ramparts  of 
Zion.  Its  churches  and  mosques  dominate  it  with  a  lordly 
air,  and  even  its  stone  houses,  which  look  so  mean  and 
squalid  on  near  approach,  have  from  this  point  almost  the 
look  of  palaces  as  the  afternoon  sun  and  the  clear  air  of 
Palestine  lend  their  enchantment  to  them. 

It  is  indeed  a  scene  of  surpassing  beaut}^,  and  here,  accord- 
ing to  one  of  the  best  authenticated  traditions,  our  Lord 
stood  when  he  looked  with  love  and  pity  upon  the  sacred 
city,  while  the  hot  tears  fell  upon  his  cheeks,  as  he  cried  out, 
"  If  thou  hadst  known,  even  thou,  at  least  in  this  thy  day, 
the  things  which  belong  unto  thy  peace ! "  Then  his  emotion 
overcame  him.  He  could  not  continue  the  sentence,  but,  with 
choking  voice,  he  added,  after  a  momentary  pause,  as  he 
thought  of  the  a^vful  destruction  which  awaited  the  beautiful 
city,  "  But  now  are  they  hid  from  thine  eyes. 

"For  the  day  shall  come  upon  thee,  that  thine  enemies 
shall  cast  a  trench  about  thee,  and  compass  thee  round,  and 
keep  thee  in  on  every  side. 

"And  shall  lay  thee  even  with  the  ground,  and  thy 
children  within  thee ;  and  they  shall  not  leave  in  thee  one 
stone  upon  another ;  because  thou  knewest  not  the  time  of 
thy  visitation." 

But  now  we  will  turn  our  eyes  upward  and  climb  the 
Mount  of  Olives  once  more.  In  a  few  moments  we  find  our- 
selves upon  its  very  summit. 


UPON  THE  MOUNT   OF   OLIVES.  475 

The  highest  point  of  the  hill  is  2,723  feet  above  the  sea 
level,  so  that  by  ordinary  geographical  measurements  it  is 
no  slight  elevation,  but  deserves  the  name  of  mountain. 
"When  compared  Avith  the  neighboring  city  of  Jerusalem, 
however,  it  is  not  a  lofty  hill,  for  it  rises  but  196  feet  higher 
than  the  temple  plateau  which  we  recently  visited,  and 
where  now  is  found  the  mosque  of  Omar. 

For  many  centuries  the  Mount  of  Olives  has  been  con- 
sidered the  spot  from  which  Christ  ascended  into  Heaven, 
but  Luke  seems  to  contradict  this  idea,  for  he  tells  us  that 
He  led  them  out  "as  far  as  Bethany  and  lifted  up  His  hands 
and  blessed  them.  And  it  came  to  pass  while  He  blessed 
them  that  He  was  parted  from  them  and  carried  up  into 
Heaven."  Now  Bethany  is  a  good  half  mile  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Mount  of  Olives.  However,  if  this  is  not  the 
place  of  the  ascension  of  Christ,  the  Mount  of  Olives  has 
sulHcient  historical  and  sacred  attractions  to  satisfy  the  most 
exacting,  and  the  view  from  the  top  is  one  of  the  most 
magnificent  and  attention-compelling  which  can  be  found  in 
any  part  of  the  world. 

The  Russians  have  built  a  high  tower  on  the  very  crest 
of  the  hill  whose  top  is  reached  by  a  narrow,  winding  stair- 
case. It  is  a  hard  climb  which  takes  us  to  the  top  of  this 
bell  tower,  but  it  well  repays  us  for  our  trouble.  Surely 
from  no  spot  in  the  world  can  be  seen  so  much  of  lasting 
and  touching  interest  to  all  mankind. 

Hour  after  hour  can  we  spend  on  the  top  of  this  tower 
and  still  find  food  for  our  imaginations,  stimulus-  for  our 
highest  religious  aspirations,  and  memory  photographs 
which  never  fade,  of  sacred  historical  sights  such  as  no  other 
view  in  the  world  can  give.  To  the  west  is  the  view  of  the 
Holy  City  which  we  have  already  seen  at  the  point  where 
Christ  our  Lord  wept  over  it,  only  it  is  more  magnificent 


476  JORDAN    AND   THE  DEAD   SEA. 

still  from  tliis  high  perch  wliich  we  have  attained.  Beyond 
stretches  the  Jaiul  of  Judah  and  the  land  of  Benjamin,  run- 
ning into  the  country  of  the  Philistines,  which  borders  the 
seacoast  towards  Jaffa. 

To  the  east  is  an  entireW  diiferent  scene,  but  one  scarcely 
less  striking.  Deadness  and  sterility,  a  treeless  and  ap])ar- 
ently  uninhabited  waste  greets  the  eye.  These  are  the  hills 
of  Moab  m  the  far  distance,  and  there,  just  this  side  of  these 
mountains,  a  silver  ribbon  which  glances  and  glitters  in  the 
sunlight,  shows  us  where  the  rippling  waters  of  the  Jordan 
are  making  their  way  to  the  Dead  Sea,  which  looks  in  the 
afternoon  sunlight  like  a  huge  mirror  lying  at  the  base  of 
the  frowning  mountains  of  Moab. 

It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  we  cannot  reach  this  sea 
of  glass  by  a  walk  of  an  hour,  or  at  the  most  of  two  hours, 
across  the  hills  and  valleys  that  lie  between  us  and  it,  and 
when  we  are  told  that  it  is  a  hard  horseback  ride  of  full 
seven  hours  over  barren  and  uninhabitable  hills,  and  that 
that  strip  of  looking-glass  is  almost  four  thousand  feet  below 
our  present  altitude,  we  are  still  more  surprised,  but  we 
are  obliged  to  take  the  word  of  geographers,  survej^ors,  and 
travelers  who  have  actually  made  the  distance,  rather  than 
our  own  unauthenticated  impressions.  That  little  lake, 
gleaming  in  the  sunlight,  is  none  other  than  the  Dead  Sea, 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary  bodies  of  water  in  all  the 
earth.  It  has  no  outlet,  as  is  well  known,  but  the  lake  is 
kept  at  its  present  level  by  the  evaporation  of  the  sun, 
which  day  after  day  sucks  up  thousands  of  tons  of  Avater 
from  this  intensely  hot  hole  in  the  surface  of  the  earth. 

The  dimensions  of  the  sea  and  its  volume  of  water  are 
constantly  growing  smaller  and  its  density  is  growing 
greater.  No  fish  can  swim  in  its  briny  waves,  but  few"  birds 
flit  along    its  barren  shores,  and  the  traveler  who  takes  a 


"WHERE    SHEPHERDS   WATCHED   THEIR   FLOCKS."'      477 


morning  bath  in  its  heavy  waters  finds  that  he  cannot  sink, 
and  that  when  he  comes  out  he  is  covered  by  a  saline  in- 
crustation, which  makes  him  think  that  he  may  possibly  be  a 
relative  of  Lot's  unfortunate  wife. 

Off  to  the  north 
we  can  catch  a 
glimpse  of  Bethle- 
hem and  the  plains 
where  the  shep- 
herds kept  their 
flocks  by  night,  and 
where  they  heard 
out  of  the  blue 
heavens  the  gloria 
in  excelsis. 

Just  at  the  foot 
of  the  hill,  but  out 
of  sight  because  it 
is  so  near,  is  the 
little  town  of  Beth- 
any, which  we  re- 
member  as  the 
place  that  of  all 
others  Christ  loved 
the  best. 

On    the    other 

side    of     the    hill 

toward  Jerusalem, 

also  hidden  by  its 

verv  nearness,  is  the  Olive  Garden   of   Gethsemane  which 

we  have  just  visited,  and  the  reputed  tomb  of  Absalom,  at 

which  every  devout  Jew  throws  a  stone  as  an  indication  of 

his  detestation  of  filial  impietv.     It  is  said  that  this  tomb  is 
29 


ABSALOM  S   TOMB. 


478  THE  VALLEY  OF  JEHOSHAPHAT. 

the  same  one  spoken  of  in  Second  Samuel:  "Now  Absalom 
in  his  lifetime  had  taken  and  reared  up  for  himself  a  pillar 
which  is  in  the  king's  dale,  for  he  said,  I  have  no  son  to  keep 
my  name  in  remembrance,  and  he  called  the  pillar  after  his 
own  name,  and  it  is  called  unto  this  day  Absalom's  place." 

If  this  is  indeed  the  tomb  which  Absalom  built  it  has 
served  its  purpose  better  than  he  perhaps  intended,  for  while 
it  has  preserved  his  name  it  has  at  the  same  time  preserved 
it  as  the  name  of  an  ungrateful,  heartless,  reprobate  son,  the 
scorn  and  derision  of  every  one  avIio  passes  by,  and  none  can 
express  their  contempt  in  any  way  more  striking  than  by 
flinging  a  derisive  stone  at  the  pillar  which  its  builder  fondly 
thought  would  keep  his  name  in  grateful  remembrance. 

Here  near  by,  also,  is  the  tomb  of  Jehoshaphat  and  St. 
James,  and  all  the  monuments  and  memories  which  crowd 
so  full  the  Yalley  of  Jehoshaphat.  Is  ot  far  away  is  the  hill 
of  Herod,  as  it  is  called,  and,  underneath,  the  cave  of  Adul- 
1am,  where  three  thousand  years  ago  David  collected  "every 
one  that  was  in  distress,  and  every  one  that  was  in  debt,  and 
every  one  that  was  discontented,  and  became  a  captain  over 
them,"  and  formed  them  into  the  nucleus  of  what  was  after- 
wards his  conquering  and  irresistible  army. 

As  we  look  far  off  towards  the  south  we  see  the  hilltop 
Mizpeh  where  Samuel  judged  the  Children  of  Israel,  and 
where  he  won  such  a  signal  victory  over  the  Philistines,  for 
here  we  are  told,  "And  as  Samuel  was  offering  up  the  burnt 
offering,  the  Philistines  drew  near  to  battle  against  Israel: 
but  the  Lord  thundered  with  a  great  thunder  on  that  day 
upon  the  Philistines,  and  discomfited  them;  and  they  were 
smitten  before  Israel. 

"  Then  Samuel  took  a  stone,  and  set  it  between  Mizpeh 
and  Shen,  and  called  the  name  of  it  Eben-ezer,  saying. 
Hitherto  hath  the  Lord  helped  us. 


SAORED   MEMORIES.  479 

"And  Samuel  judged  Israel  all  the  years  of  his  life. 

"And  he  went  from  year  to  year  in  circuit  to  Bethel, 
and  Gilgal,  and  Mizpeh,  and  judged  Israel  in  all  those 
places." 

Thus  our  eyes  are  surfeited  with  wondrous  sights  and 
our  memories  are  wearied  to  recall  everything  that  has  made 
these  places  memorable. 

But  before  we  descend  from  the  tower,  our  eyes  sweep 
around  once  more  to  the  narrow  Jordan  and  the  glittering 
Dead  Sea,  and  rest  upon  the  bleak  mountains  of  Moab. 
Among  them  is  one  hilltop  of  surpassing  interest.  There  on 
Mount  Nebo,  four  thousand  feet  above  the  Dead  Sea  which 
lies  at  its  base,  the  great  lawgiver  of  Israel  looked  upon 
the  Promised  Land  which  he  was  never  to  enter. 

Going  down  the  sacred  hill  toward  the  east,  crossing  a 
gentle  spur,  and  following  a  winding  path  across  flowery 
fields,  we  come  at  last  to  a  village  which  perhaps  centers 
within  itself  more  touching  sacred  memories  than  any  other 
spot  in  all  the  region,  for  in  this  village  was  the  home  of 
Mary  and  Martha,  whose  door  was  so  often  left  ajar  for 
Christ  to  enter. 

Here  was  the  house  of  Simon  the  Leper  where  Mary 
washed  the  blessed  feet  that  continually  went  about  doing 
good,  and  wiped  them  with  the  hairs  of  her  head.  Here, 
too,  Lazarus  lived,  and  in  this  little  hamlet  the  greatest 
miracle  of  the  ages  was  wrought  when  Lazarus  heard  the 
Divine  voice  saying  to  him  in  the  tomb,  "Come  forth." 

But  alas,  the  passing  centuries  have  taken  all  the  poetry 
and  romance  out  of  this  little  hamlet.  The  natural  in- 
dolence of  the  inhabitants,  their  hopeless  lives,  for  many 
generations  ground  down  under  the  heel  of  the  Turks,  and 
their  unentei'prising,  fanatical  disposition,  have  all  contrib- 
uted to  make  this  at  the  present  day  as  squalid,  mean,  and 


480  AN   OVER-SUPPLY   OF   GUIDES. 

uninteresting  a  town  as  can  be  found  in  any  one  of  the  five 
continents  which  we  are  visiting  together. 

As  we  neared  the  village  we  passed  a  group  of  ragged, 
filthy,  sore-eyed  specimens  of  humanity,  squatting  on  the 
ground  near  an  old,  dilapidated  tent,  Avhere  they  had  been 
lazily  basking  in  the  sunshine.  They  were  engaged  in  the 
interesting  task  of  simultaneously  extending  their  dirty 
hands  into  the  one  and  only  dish  that  contained  their  food. 
They  stretched  out  their  gaunt,  diseased  hands  to  us,  crying 
"  backsheesh,"  the  only  word,  apparently,  which  they  knew 
and  which  stood  for  the  only  thing  they  cared  for. 

What  is  Mary  or  Martha,  Lazarus  or  Simon  to  them, 
except  so  many  pretexts  for  extorting  more  backsheesh  from 
the  traveler  who  comes  their  way  ?  What  is  Christ  himself, 
except  a  personage  whose  wondrous  attractiveness  turns 
the  feet  of  many  a  pilgrim  Bethanyward,  and  gives  these 
petty  robbers  a  chance  to  practice  their  arts  upon  a  fresh 
set  of  travelers  every  day  ? 

However,  they  know  the  stock  places  of  interest  in  their 
village  by  heart,  and,  starting  up  from  all  sides,  they  run  on 
before  the  pilgrims  crying  out,  "  Thees  way,  thees  way  to  de 
house  of  Mary  and  Marrta,"  rolling  their  r's  with  great 
vigor,  and  vociferating  and  gesticulating  as  only  Orientals 
can,  lest  some  one  else  should  capture  their  travelers  and 
show  them  the  way. 

"  Dis  way  to  de  tomb  of  Lazaroos,  dis  way  to  de  tomb  of 
Lazaroos,"  cries  a  shrill  treble  voice  in  our  ear,  as  a  little 
damsel  not  more  than  eight  or  nine  years  old  came  skipping 
over  the  rough  stones,  eagerly  pressing  upon  us  the  fact  that 
she  will  be  our  guide  to  the  tomb  of  Mary's  brother. 

All  that  we  have  to  do  is  to  follow  the  crowd,  for  all 
Bethany  seems  ready  to  act  as  our  guide  this  morning,  and 
every  one  knows  as  well  as  we  where  we  wish  to  go. 


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THE   HOUSE   OF   MARY   AND   MARTHA. 


483 


So  following  our  many  cicerones  we  soon  come  to  a 
dilapidated  ruin  into  which  we  are  admitted  by  a  small 
wooden  gate.  This,  we  are  assured  hv  a  chorus  of  voices,  is 
none  other  than  the  house  of  Mary  and  Martha.  We  are 
not  prepared  to  dispute  the  fact,  for  it  is  as  likely  a  place  for 
the  residence  of  the  famous  sisters  as  any  in  the  village.  It 
is  perhaps  a  shade  more  clean  and  respectable  than  any 
other  ruin  in  the  vicinitv,  but 
we  are  verv  confident  that  in 
the  days  of  old,  Martha  left  no 
such  piles  of  rubbish  and  gar- 
bage at  her  front  door  as  now 
decorate  it;  that  she  kept  the 
dead  cats  and  live  donkeys  off 
her  premises,  and  that  the  blear- 
eyed  children  who  now  clamber 
all  over  her  dining-room  and 
parlor  walls  would  have  been 
obliged  to  wash  their  faces  and 
comb  their  hair  before  she  ad- 
mitted them  within  her  doors 
in  the  da^^s  of  old. 

The  tomb  of  Lazarus  is 
equally  disappointing  and  per- 
haps no  more  authentic.  The 
narrow  entrance  shows  us  a  long  flight  of  stairs  wliich 
leads  us  down  into  the  very  bowels  of  the  earth,  and,  here, 
by  the  aid  of  a  smoky,  flaring  taper  and  a  vigorous  imagina- 
tion we  are  supposed  to  see  the  place  where  for  f om'  days  the 
body  of  Lazarus  lay  before  the  Redeemer's  voice  put  life  and 
vigor  into  the  decavino:  limbs. 

Bethany  is  decidedly  disappointing  from  every  point  of 
vieWj  and  does  not  invite  us  to  linger  long  within  its  wretched 


A  BEDOUIX   WOMAN. 


484 


A  DISCOURAGED  PROPHET. 


streets.  Since  we  stay  here  so  short  a  time,  we  can  on  this 
same  day  visit  Bethlehem,  which  lies  on  the  other  side  of 
Jerusalem,  about  an  hour  and  a  half  by  carriage  from  the 
gates  of  the  city. 

The  road  from  Jerusalem  lies  over  rocky  hills  which  are 
spotted  here  and  there  with  little  patches  of  soil,  laboriously 
enclosed  by  rocks,  where  some  scanty  crops  are  raised  by 
the  primitive  agricultural  methods  of  the  day.     Half-way 


V. 


KACHEL  S  TOMB. 


out  to  Bethlehem,  we  see  the  place  where  it  is  supposed 
Elijah  lay  down  under  the  juniper  tree  and  asked  to  die.  He 
must  have  lain  down  with  considerable  force,  one  would 
think,  for  he  has  left  a  hole  in  the  solid  rock  about  the  size 
of  a  man's  body,  which  is  pointed  out  as  the  very  spot  where 
he  threw  himself  down  in  his  unrighteous  despair. 

A  little  further  on  we  come  to  the  tomb  of  Rachel,  which 
is  better  authenticated  than  most  historic  sites  in  the  vicinity. 
It  is  a  place  greatly  reverenced,  especially  by  the  Jews. 
Fortunately,  the  custodian  of  the  tomb  was  there  when  we 


BETHLEHEM   OF   SONG  AND   STORY.  485 

went  by,  and  we  enjoyed  the  privilege  which  many  travelers 
do  not  have,  of  entering  the  tomb  and  seeing  the  great  rock 
sepulchre  in  which  it  is  not  altogether  improbable  that  the 
beloved  wife  of  Jacob  is  still  resting. 

"  And  Rachel  died,"  says  the  sacred  narrative,  "  and  was 
buried  in  the  way  to  Ephrath,  which  is  Bethlehem.  And 
Jacob  set  a  pillar  upon  her  grave ;  that  is  the  pillar  of 
Rachers  grave  unto  this  day." 

Not  man}^  minutes  beyond  this  historic  tomb  we  see  a 
long,  straggling  Eastern  village,  and  our  pulses  beat  a  little 
quicker  as  we  remember  that  this  is  none  other  than  Bethle- 
hem, Bethlehem  of  prophecy  and  of  history,  Bethlehem  of 
.song  and  story,  Bethlehem  Ephrata,  of  which  it  was  said 
seven  hundred  years  before  our  Lord  was  born,  "  Though 
thou  be  little  among  the  thousands  of  Judah,  yet  out  of  thee 
shall  He  come  forth  unto  me  that  is  to  be  ruler  in  Israel, 
whose  goings  forth  have  been  from  of  old,  from  everlasting." 

The  town  now  contains  about  five  thousand  inhabitants, 
most  of  them  Christians,  but  among  them  only  fifty  Protes- 
tant Christians.  Here,  the  Latins  and  Greeks  and  Armeni- 
ans all  possess  huge  monasteries,  and  the  inhabitants  live  by 
raising  cattle,  by  making  images  of  saints  and  fancy  articles 
in  olive  wood,  mother-of-pearl,  and  coral.  The  one  supremely 
interesting  spot  in  this  little  town  is  covered  by  the  Church 
of  Saint  Marv,  which  is  erected  over  the  traditional  birth- 
place  of  Christ. 

Our  carriage  rattles  down  through  the  principal  street, 
over  the  horribly  rough  pavements  which  sometimes  give  out 
altogether,  and  are  only  replaced  by  holes  and  hummocks 
which  threaten  to  break  every  spring  in  the  wagon.  But 
the  driver  paid  no  attention  to  such  little  obstacles.  He 
wants  to  show  off  to  the  best  advantao;e,  and  crackino-  his 
whip  and  urging  on  his  horses,  he  flies  through  the  narrow 


486 


THE   PLACE   OF   THE  NATIVITY. 


streets,  Avliile  the  inhabitants  flatten  themselves  against  the 
Avails  to  escape  his  threatening  wheels.  Finally,  he  brings 
up  with  a  great  flourish  in  front  of  the  aforesaid  Church  of 
Saint  Mary,  or,  of  "  The  Nativity,"  as  it  is  usuall}^  called. 

Of  course  the  exact  sites  which  are  here  pointed  out  are, 
in  all  probability,  spurious.  Some  of  them  are  manifest 
absurdities,  and  yet,  very  near  to  this  spot,  and  quite  proba- 
bly within  the  space  that  is 
covered  by  the  roof  of  this 
church,  the  Eedeemer  of  Man- 
kind was  born.  Here  we  can 
afford  to  give  our  imagina- 
tions full  play  and  need  not 
try  to  curb  our  religious  emo- 
tions. 

After  passing  through  a 
church  which  is  grandly  sim- 
ple in  its  design,  we  come  to 
the  Chapel  of  the  Nativity 
itself.  The  pavement  is  of 
marble  and  the  walls  also  are 
lined  with  marble,  while  under 
the  altar  a  silver  star  marks 
the  place  of  Jesus'  birth.  The 
inscription  tells  us :  "  Hie  de 
Virgine  llaria  Jesus  Christus  natus  esV 

For  centuries  and  centuries,  devout  hearts  have  traveled 
hither  to  Avorship  at  the  cradle  of  our  Lord,  and  from  the 
time  of  Constantine  this  spot  has  been  richly  decorated, 
and  golden  lamps  with  their  undying  flame  are  constantly 
swinging  over  the  silver  star, 

Near  by  is  the  Chapel  of  the  Manger,  where  the  marble 
cradle  of  Christ  is  pointed  out  to  us.      It  does  not  meet  our 


A  GIRL  OF  JUDEA. 


GUARDING   THE   CRADLE   OF   OUR   LORD.  487 

ideas,  however,  of  the  rough  stall  from  which  the  horses  fed, 
and  which  Protestant  Christians  always  associate  with  the 
birth  of  the  Redeemer, 

"While  we  were  looking  at  these  relics,  twenty-one  Fran- 
ciscan monks  came  into  the  chapel,  carrying  huge  candles 
and  chanting  the  praises  of  the  Virgin  Marj^  Behind  them 
followed  a  priest  arrayed  in  most  gorgeous  vestments,  and 
followed  by  two  attendants.  As  the  priest  approached  the 
place  of  the  Nativity,  he  took  a  golden  censer  in  his  hand, 
and  then  from  a  silver  vase  he  took  some  powdered  incense 
and  with  a  golden  spoon  sprinkled  it  on  the  living  coals. 

The  fragrant  smoke  curled  up  to  heaven,  while  the  monks 
chanted,  and  the  priests  with  rhythmical  motion  swung  the 
golden  censer,  and  the  thirty-one  lamps  of  gold  and  silver 
shed  their  subdued  light  upon  the  scene.  But  even  while  we 
looked  Ave  could  see  the  grim  figure  of  a  Turkish  soldier  sta- 
tioned beside  the  marble  cradle  itself  to  keep  the  peace 
between  the  warring  Christian  factions. 

How  much  of  the  beauty  and  harmony  of  the  scene  was 
dissipated  by  this  soldier's  suggestive  attitude  !  How  much 
it  told  of  warfare  and  bitterness  where  all  should  be  peace 
and  harmony  !  How  much  it  suggested  even  of  jealous  and 
envious  sects  who  cannot  even  clasp  hands  across  the  cradle 
of  our  Lord ! 

We  were  glad  before  long  to  leave  the  Church  of  the 
Nativity,  and,  as  we  rode  home,  we  found  more  joy  and  sat- 
isfaction in  the  sight  of  the  peaceful  plains  where  the  shep- 
herds watched  their  flocks  bv  night,  where  Boaz  left  the 
"  handfuls  of  purpose,"  and  where  David  kept  his  flocks,  de- 
livering them  with  the  help  of  God  out  of  the  paw  of  the 
lion  and  out  of  the  paw  of  the  bear,  than  in  the  gaudy 
and  tinsel-decked  church  over  which  quarrelsome  Christians 
have  spent  so  much  blood  and  treasure. 


CHAPTEE  XXYL 

WITHIN  AND  AROUND  "THE  DOME  OF  THE  ROCK." 

The  Mosque  of  Omar  —  A  Rock  of  Wonderful  Traditions  —  Abraham's 
Sacrifice  —  Our  Retinue  —  Mohammed's  Broomstick  Ride  —  The  Wily 
Jew  and  the  Pilgrim  —  The  Wise  Judge  —  The  Marvelous  Iron  Chain 
of  Justice  —  A  Wily  Jew  —  Our  Slippers  and  How  We  Kept  Them  On 
—  Our  "Humbug"  Sheik  — The  Great  Rock  — The  Stone  of  Nails  — 
How  the  Devil  Drew  Them  Out  ^  An  Easy  Way  of  Buying  Heaven  — 
A  Rock  Which  Rests  on  Nothing  —  How  Gabriel  Held  It  Down  —  The 
Way  to  Paradise  —  What  the  Pilgrim  Found  in  the  Well  —  Hairs  from 
the  Beard  of  Mohammed — The  Stables  of  Solomon  —  The  Place  of 
Final  Judgment  —  Startling  and  Curious  Traditions  —  The  Wailing 
Place  —  Real  Grief  —  A  Squalid  Scene  —  The  Old  Pharisee  and  His 
Lovelocks  —  A  Sad  Litany  —  A  More  Joyful  Keynote  —  A  Marvelous 
Race. 


EKHAPS  the  mosque  of  Omar 
combines  more  of  authentic  his- 
toric interest  than  any  other  one 
place  in  the  world.  The  Church 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  to  be 
sure,  would  be  more  interesting 
to  the  Christian  heart  than  the 
site  of  the  Temple  of  Solomon,  if 
we  could  put  full  and  implicit 
trust  in  the  rather  shady  tra- 
ditions which  give  it  its  fame. 
But  around  the  holy  rock 
over  which  the  mosque  of  Omar  is  built  few  doubts  linger. 
"We  know  something  of  the  wonderful  temple  which  once 
overshadowed  it.     We  know  what  the  rock  itself  was  used 

for,  and  though  in  these  degenerate  days  the  place  has  fallen 

(488) 


THE  HOLY   ROCK.  489 

into  impious  Moslem  hands,  it  is  still  of  supreme  and  pathetic 
interest  to  Jew  and  Christian,  Catholic  and  Protestant,  Ar- 
menian and  Mohammedan  alike. 

Even  unsentimental  Baedeker  melts  a  little  when  he 
comes  to  the  Haram,  as  the  whole  place  is  called,  and  says, 
with  a  suspicion  of  sympathy  in  his  professional  guide- 
book phrase,  ""We  now  stand  on  one  of  the  most  profoundly 
interesting  spots  in  the  world." 

In  Abraham's  day  the  stone  under  this  great  dome  was 
an  altar  of  sacrifice,  and  in  that  most  touching  of  Biblical 
stories  we  read  that  God  said  to  Abraham,  "Take  now  thy 
son,  thine  only  son  Isaac,  whom  thou  lovest,  and  get  thee 
into  the  land  of  Moriah;  and  offer  him  there  for  a  burnt 
offering  upon  one  of  the  mountains  which  I  will  tell  thee  of." 

This  was  the  mountain,  so  full  since  then  of  pathetic  but 
blessed  memories  to  Jew  and  Christian  alike,  that  God  told 
Abraham  of. 

This,  too,  was  undoubtedly  the  threshing  floor  of 
Araunah,  the  Jebusite,  which  David  bought  for  fifty  shekels 
of  silver,  and  where  he  built  an  altar  unto  the  Lord  and 
offered  burnt  offerings  and  peace  offerings  because  of  the 
plague  which  was  devastating  Israel.  Here,  temple  after 
temple  was  erected ;  here  David  collected  the  vast  treasures 
for  the  magnificent  house  of  worship  which  he  was  not  per- 
mitted on  account  of  his  blood-stained  hands  to  build ;  here, 
Solomon,  the  most  exalted  monarch  of  his  day,  built  the 
grandest  temple  of  the  ages ;  here  Nehemiah  and  his  faithful 
compatriots  on  their  return  from  exile  built  a  less  splendid 
house  for  God's  worship ;  and  here  Herod,  just  before  the 
birth  of  Christ,  erected  a  stately  edifice  whose  stones  were 
being  laid  and  whose  beams  were  springing  into  their  places 
even  while  our  Lord  walked  the  streets  of  Jerusalem.  He 
must  have  watched  the  growth  of  the  third  temple. 


490  AN   IMPOSING    PROCESSION. 

For  many  centuries,  as  all  know,  Jerusalem  lias  been  in 
the  hands  of  Mohammedans,  and  the  temple  precincts  have 
been  their  especial  treasure.  Until  within  a  few  years  the 
"infidel  dogs,"  as  they  politely  designate  all  Christians, 
were  not  allowed  to  set  foot  within  the  enclosure,  but  the 
waning  power  of  the  Sultan  could  not  resist  the  increasing 
demands  of  Christian  nations,  and  since  the  Crimean  war, 
travelers  have  been  admitted  to  the  Haram. 

Even  now  there  are  some  imposing  formalities  to  be  gone 
through  with  before  we  can  visit  the  sacred  mosque.  "We 
applied  to  our  United  States  Consul  for  a  permit,  and  for  his 
kavass,  who  on  the  payment  of  five  francs  from  each  mem- 
ber of  the  party  accompanies  us,  to  see  that  no  harm  befalls 
us  from  infuriated  Moslems  who  still  have  to  be  held  in 
check  when  their  sacred  places  are  invaded  even  by  the 
peaceful  tourist.  We  also  were  obliged  to  take  a  soldier  to 
defend  us  in  case  of  attack,  who  expects  a  fee  of  three  or 
four  francs,  a  small  boy  to  carry  our  slippers  which  must  be 
donned  before  we  enter  the  sacred  precincts,  while  in  ad- 
dition to  this  array  of  followers,  is  our  guide  or  dragoman, 
who  explains  the  significance  of  the  sacred  sights. 

It  was  quite  an  imposing  procession  which  set  off  one 
bright  March  morning  from  the  hotel  just  within  the  gates 
of  the  city  for  the  mosque  of  Omar.  Leading  the  way  was 
the  gorgeous  kavass,  arrayed  in  all  his  Oriental  finery,  car- 
rying off  his  gaudy  plumes  with  the  utmost  indifference  and 
di^nitv.  Then  came  the  soldier  guard,  scarcelv  less  wonder- 
fully  arrayed,  whose  Winchester  rifle,  long  sword,  short 
dirk,  and  brace  of  bull-dog  pistols,  were  supposed  to  strike 
terror  to  the  heart  of  every  pugnacious  Turk  who  might  dis- 
pute our  passage. 

Following  him  was  Abdallah,  our  dragoman.  Then 
came  our  modest  selves,  some  half-dozen  English  and  Ameri- 


MEMORIES   OF   THE   GREAT   FALSE   PROPHET. 


491 


cans.  Our  slipper  boy  followed  after,  and,  as  his  only 
function  was  to  put  on  our  shoes  when  we  removed  the 
slippers,  and  guard  the  shoes  while  we  were  in  the  mosque, 
he  was  not  obliged  to  appear  in  uniform. 

Through  the  narrow,  filthy  streets  we  walked,  passing  the 
Armenian  monastery  overshadowed  by  lofty  and  gloomy 
cypresses,  past  the  Turkish  guard  who  unceasingly  stands  at 
the  gate  of  the  Haram  to  prevent  any  unaccredited  infidel 
foot  from  pressing  the  sacred  soil.     At  last  we  stood  on  the 


"■  -.ri  ': '  1  ihl  ■    in-""  f   ' 


THE  MOSQUE   OF   OMAR. 

very  rocks  made  sacred  by  the  feet  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob  ;  of  David  and  Samuel ;  of  Judges,  Prophets,  Apostles, 
and  Martyrs,  and  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  Saviour,  himself. 

One  soon  gets  the  impression,  however,  that  these  pre- 
cincts, in  the  minds  of  present  owners,  are  more  sacred  to 
the  memory  of  Mohammed  than  of  any  one  else,  for  at  every 
step  we  are  reminded  of  the  great  false  prophet  by  some 
absurd  tradition. 

For  instance,  as  we  enter  the  grounds  a  spot  enclosed  by 
marble  pillars  is  shown  us  as  the  very  spot  from  which 
Mohammed  started  on  his  flying  horse  to  visit  Damascus 


492  THE   CHAIN   OF   JUDGMENT. 

and  Mecca,  a  journey  of  many  hundred  miles  Avbich  occupied 
him  only  five  or  six  minutes.  He  had  evidently  anticipated 
not  only  Darius  Green  and  his  Hying  machine,  but  all  the 
aerial  inventions  and  electrical  contrivances  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  If  he  had  only  left  to  his  devoted  followers  the 
secret  of  his  airy  journey,  how  many  would  have  called  him 
blessed !  The  Atlantic  Avould  now  have  no  terrors  for 
the  timid  landsman.  The  Mediterranean  might  wax  never 
so  wrathy  and  yet  it  would  not  keep  us  at  home.  Even  the 
landing  at  Jaffa  would  have  no  fear  for  us,  and  traveling  in 
Palestine,  which  is  now  so  wearisome,  would  be  only  a  joyous 
flitting  from  sacred  spot  to  sacred  spot. 

But,  alas!  Mohammed  did  not  reveal  the  secret  of  his 
flying  horse,  and  we  must  still  walk  about  on  two  feet,  be 
they  never  so  weary. 

Before  the  east  entrance  to  the  mosque  of  Omar  is  an- 
other covered,  dome-shaped  pavilion  surrounded  by  marble 
pillars,  and  here  we  paused  long  enough  for  Abdallah  to  tell 
us  the  story  of  the  place.  With  his  snapping,  black  Syrian 
eyes,  his  expressive  gestures  and  mobile  face,  he  could  make 
the  most  untrustworthy  and  improbable  traditions  glow  with 
a  living  interest.  Suspended  from  the  roof  of  this  pavihon, 
says  Abdallah,  there  used  to  be  a  chain  of  heavy  iron  links, 
under  which  all  accused  persons  must  stand.  If  the  chain 
fell  on  them  they  were  guilty  ;  if,  however,  the  chain  did  hot 
fall,  but  remained  suspended,  they  were  innocent. 

On  one  occasion  there  came  to  this  place  of  judgment  a 
Mohammedan  and  a  Jew,  the  Jew  being  accused  by  the 
Mohammedan  of  robbing  him  of  the  gold  which  he  had  com- 
mitted to  the  Jew  on  his  departure  for  Mecca,  whither  he 
had  gone  on  a  pilgrimage,  for  it  is  not  permitted  a  pilgrim 
to  carry  with  him  more  money  than  is  sufficient  to  meet  the 
necessities  of  life. 


ABDALLAH'S    STORY.  493 

"When  I  came  back  from  Mecca,"  said  the  Mussuhnan. 
at  the  trial,  "  this  dog  of  a  Jew  would  not  give  me  back  my 
property,  but  swears  that  he  never  received  it  from  me." 

"  Stand  under  the  chain,"  said  the  just  and  inflexible 
judge  to  the  Jew,  "  and  if  you  have  your  neighbor's  money 
its  heavy  links  will  fall  on  you  and  crush  you  to  the  dust." 

"  Most  willingly,"  answered  the  Jew,  "  for  I  assure  you  I 
have  not  a  j^enny  of  my  neighbor's  money."  Upon  this  he 
handed  the  judge  a  heavy  cane  that  he  carried  in  his  hand 
and  briskly  stepped  under  the  avenging  chain. 

Sure  enough,  the  Jew  appeared  to  be  right,  the  chain 
remained  strong  and  firm,  not  even  by  a  wriggle  of  one  of 
its  links  did  it  show  its  desire  to  crush  the  accused. 

"Ha,  ha,"  said  the  judge  to  the  Mohammedan,  "you 
have  borne  false  witness,  you  must  stand  under  the  chain 
yourself  and  it  will  soon  show  which  is  the  perjured  man." 

Upon  this  the  Jew  received  his  cane  back  again  and  the 
Mohammedan  stepped  under  the  chain,  and  still  it  did  not 
fall,  neither  did  the  links  show  any  motion,  or  desire  to 
avenge  a  wrono^. 

"  There  must  be  some  mistake  about  this,"  pondered  the 
judge,  "  the  chain  never  made  a  mistake  before.  Either  one 
or  the  other  of  these  men  must  be  guilty." 

Then  a  sudden  light  gleamed  upon  the  mind  of  the 
sapient  dispenser  of  justice,  and,  taking  the  cane  once  more 
out  of  the  hand  of  the  ^vily  Jew,  he  broke  it  across  his  knee 
and  all  the  Mohammedan's  gold  rolled  out  from  its  hollow 
interior. 

Thus  the  secret  stood  revealed.  The  Jew  did  not  have 
a  penny  of  the  Moslem's  money  while  he  was  under  the 
chain,  for  it  was  all  in  the  judge's  hands,  and  the  chain  could 
not  fall  upon  him,  neither  could  it  crush  the  Mohammedan, 
for  he  was  right  in  his  accusation,  and  thus  the  wisdom  of 


494  SLIPPERS   FOR   INFIDEL   FEET. 

the  great  judge  was  re-established  and  the  reputation  of  the 
chain  was  preserved. 

It  was  on  this  spot,  too,  according  to  Abdallah,  that 
Solomon  discovered  the  true  mother  of  the  babe  when  he 
took  his  sword  and  was  about  to  cut  the  little  one  into  two 
pieces,  and  discovered  by  the  heart-rending  sobs  and  prayers 
of  one  woman  that  the  life  of  the  child  might  be  spared, 
which  the  true  mother  of  the  infant  was. 

Here  at  this  east  door,  near  which  the  pavilion  of  the 
chain  is  situated,  we  stopped  to  take  off  our  shoes.  A  most 
miscellaneous  assortment  of  shppers  was  brought  for  those 
who  had  no  slippers  with  them  by  one  of  the  attendants  of 
the  mosque.  These  slippers  were  in  all  degrees  and  stages 
of  dilapidation.  The  only  kind  that  we  did  not  find  among 
the  whole  lot  brought  us  to  choose  from,  were  those  that 
made  any  pretention  to  respectability.  Great  splay-footed 
sides  of  leather,  out  at  the  toes  and  heels,  were  presented  to 
us ;  equally  disreputable  pieces  of  carpeting  which  were 
once  slippers,  but  which  now  bear  scarcely  a  resemblance  to 
soles  and  uppers  were  laid  at  our  feet ;  while,  in  other  cases, 
pieces  of  bocking  with  a  string  run  through  the  hole  at  the 
top,  into  which  the  feet  are  supposed  to  be  thrust,  did  duty 
as  foot  coverings,  and  prevented  our  infidel  feet  from  defil- 
ing the  sacred  sanctuary  of  the  Moslems. 

The  only  thing  about  these  slippers  which  is  universal  is 
their  conspicuous  roominess.  However,  by  careful  manage- 
ment, never  lifting  our  feet  from  the  ground,  and  shuffling  in 
the  most  awkward  way,  we  were  able  to  keep  them  on  our 
feet  and  to  follow  our  guide,  our  kavass,  and  our  soldier,  into 
the  mosque.  The  crowd  of  attendants  was  here  increased  by 
the  old  sheik  of  the  mosque  himself,  and  by  several  of  his 
retainers  who  followed  us  about  in  order  that  they  might  r 
have  an  excuse  for  demanding  backsheesh.  , 


COMPLIMENTING  THE  SHEIK.  495 

Our  new  attendant,  the  sheik  of  the  mosque,  spoke  only 
Turkish.  Our  dragoman,  Abdallah,  is  equalh^  at  home  in 
Turkish  and  English.  Turning  to  us  he  said,  with  the  ut- 
most solemnity,  ''  This  sheik  is  a  very  great  man,  I  assure 
you,  and  he  greatly  honors  us  with  his  presence."  This 
complimentary  explanation  he  translated  into  Turkish,  and 
then  turning  to  us  once  more  said,  in  English  alone,  for  our 
own  private  delectation,  "  xlnd  he  is  one  great  big  humbug, 
too,  and  no  more  use  to  us  than  two  tails  to  a  cat." 

The  sheik  evidently  considered  this  another  compliment, 
but  fortunately,  did  not  insist  upon  its  being  translated. 

The  mosque  of  Omar,  or  dome  of  the  rock,  as  its  Turkish 
name  may  be  translated  into  English,  is  an  octagonal  build- 
inc]:,  each  of  whose  sides  is  sixtv-six  feet  in  leno-th.  The 
upper  part  is  covered  with  porcelain  tiles  of  a  subdued  blue. 
The  effect  is  considered  by  artists  to  be  remarkably  fine. 

The  lower  part  of  the  building  is  covered  with  marble, 
and  passages  from  the  Koran,  written  in  interwoven  charac- 
ters, run  around  the  building  like  a  frieze. 

AVithin,  the  building  is  not  particularly  remarkable,  ex- 
cept for  the  great  rock  in  the  center,  and  the  traditions 
which  cluster  around  this  rock,  which,  by  hundreds  of  mil- 
lions of  people,  is  regarded  as  the  central  point  of  the  world. 

Just  how  large  the  claim  on  your  reverence  may  be 
which  this  rock  should  have,  it  is  difficult  to  tell,  but,  in  any 
event,  it  will  always  hold  its  preeminence  as  one  of  the  most 
sacred  spots  to  Jew  and  Mohammedan  and  Christian  alike. 

Authentic  Jewish  tradition  tells  us  that  on  this  very  rock 

Abraham  offered  sacrifice.     Here  Isaac  lay,  bound  and  ready 

for  the  sacrificial  knife  which    his  father  held  in  his  hand 

when  the  arresting  voice  of  God  was  heard.     Some  scholars 

say  that  on  this  spot  the  Holy  of  Holies  of  the  ancient  temple 

stood,  while  still  others  declare  that  the  great  sacrificial  altar 
30 


496  A  SATANIC   LEGEND. 

stood  here,  and  have  discovered  on  the  rock  what  they  be- 
lieve to  be  traces  of  a  channel  for  carrying  off  the  blood. 

Many  of  the  traditions  which  now  cluster  about  this  place 
are  undoubtedly  of  Mohammedan  origin,  and  are  of  little 
interest  to  Jew  or  Christian  except  as  curious  freaks  of  the 
imagination. 

But  we  will  follow  our  old  sheik  about,  as,  with  implicit 
faith  in  his  own  story,  lie  tells  the  tale  to  us.  The  great 
rock  which  gives  its  name  to  the  mosque  is  enclosed  by  a 
screen  which  was  put  up  in  the  days  of  the  Crusaders,  but 
through  the  holes  in  the  screen  we  can  stick  our  fingers  and 
touch  the  sacred  stone  itself. 

Just  outside  the  screen,  on  the  east  side  of  the  mosque,  is 
a  stone  in  which  are  some  nail-holes,  while  two  or  three  nails 
seem  to  be  still  driven  into  the  stone  and  there  remain 
imbedded.  Here,  our  ancient  "  humbug  "  of  a  sheik  pauses 
impressively  and  points  with  his  fat  fore-finger  to  these  nails, 
"  Do  you  see  this  stone  ? "  he  says,  while  his  Arabic  is  trans- 
lated into  English  by  Abdallah.  "  There  used  to  be  thirteen 
nails  in  this  stone,  and  the  devil  knows  very  well  that  when 
all  the  nails  are  drawn  out  the  end  of  the  world  will  come. 
Of  course,  he  is  anxious  for  this  so  that  he  may  escape  from 
torment  himself.  One  day  he  came  into  the  mosque  with 
his  ugly  forked  tail  and  dreadful  hoofs  and  began  to  pull  out 
the  nails.  He  had  pulled  out  ten  of  them  and  another  was 
half  out  when  Gabriel  saw  what  he  was  about,  and  stopped 
him  in  the  midst  of  his  occupation.  You  can  see  that  what 
I  am  telling  vou  is  true;'  added  the  old  sheik,  "  for  there 
are  only  two  and  one-half  nails  left,  and  you  can  see  that 
the  devil  pulled  out  all  the  rest  before  he  was  stopped." 

This  avaricious  old  sinner  went  on  to  say,  ^'If  anyone 
puts  some  backsheesh  down  on  this  stone  he  is  sure  of  going 
to  heaven,"     After  this  solemn  assurance,  we  threw  down  a 


WHERE    PATRIARCHS   AND    PROPHETS    PRAYED.  497 

copper,  and  turning  to  the  old  Moslem,  asked  him  if  that 
would  assure  us  entrance  into  Paradise,  but  the  sheik  was 
too  shrewd  to  commit  himself.  "  You  may  possibly  squeeze 
in,"  he  said,  "but  if  you  would  only  give  two  francs,  it 
would  make  it  sure."  However,  we  declined  to  purchase 
bliss  at  any  such  price  as  this. 

This  whole  huge  rock  is  supposed  by  Mohammedans  to 
rest  on  nothing,  and  when  one  goes  down  into  a  kind  of 
crypt  or  cellar-way  underneath  the  rock,  and  shows  them  the 
substantial  stone  pillars  which  support  it,  they  claim  that 
underneath  the  crypt  it  is  entu'ely  hollow,  and  prove  it  by 
pounding  on  the  floor,  which  makes  a  hollow  rumbling  sound 
as  though  there  were  a  cavern  beneath  our  feet. 

In  this  subterranean  chamber  our  dragoman  points  out 
the  places  where  David,  Solomon,  Abraham,  and  Elijah  were 
in  the  habit  of  praying.  Here  Mohammed  used  to  pray 
also,  and,  being  a  tall  man,  when  he  rose  from  his  knees  he 
would  surely  have  bumped  his  head  against  the  ceiling,  but 
very  considerately  the  stone  rose  out  of  his  way,»and  there 
is  a  hollow  over  our  heads  of  exactly  the  shape  of  Moham- 
med's turban. 

In  this  rock  is  also  a  round  hole  through  which,  the 
faithful  assure  us,  that  Mohammed  ascended  into  heaven. 
The  stone  could  not  bear  to  be  deprived  of  his  company,  and 
so  it  was  following  after  him  when  Gabriel  put  his  hand  on 
it  and  stopped  it  from  going  any  further.  Upon  this,  the 
obedient  stone  settled  back  into  its  place,  and  blessed  the  re- 
straining hand. 

Our  credulity  is  somewhat  strained  by  this  legQpd,  but 
when  we  expressed  any  doubt,  our  old  guide  settled  the  mat- 
ter once  for  all  by  showing  us  a  whitish  quartz  fragment  in 
the  heart  of  the  rock,  which  he  declared  to  be  the  tongue  of 
the  stone  with  which  it  blessed  the  hand  of  Gabriel. 


V 


498  THE   WELL  OF   PARADISE. 

Moreover,  he  showed  us  a  depression  in  the  stone  itself, 
upon  which  Gabriel's  hand  rested  Avhen  it  prevented  the  rock 
from  flying  heavenward.  AV^liat  more  could  be  said  in  view 
of  such  incontrovertible  evidence  'i 

Going  outside  of  the  mosque  again,  we  followed  our 
numerous  guides  to  anotlier  building  which  is  scarcely  less 
sacred  than  the  dome  of  the  rock.  This  is  the  mosque  of 
El  Aksa,  a  long,  rectangular  building,  much  inferior  to  the 
octagonal  mosque  that  covers  the  sacred  rock,  but  yet,  hav- 
ing its  own  relics  of  supreme  interest  to  the  Mohammedan. 

Here  is  the  sacred  well  of  Paradise.  As  we  look  down 
into  its  cavernous  depths,  we  can  see  nothing  but  a  great 
black  liole  in  the  floor.  We  are  assured,  however,  that  this 
is  none  other  than  the  way  to  Paradise  itself,  for  on  one 
occasion,  a  pilgrim  who  was  here  drawing  water,  lost  his 
bucket,  and  going  down  to  get  it,  he  saw  two  angels  at  the 
bottom  of  the  well,  who  told  him  that  this  was  the  way  to 
Paradise,  and  who  at  the  same  time,  gave  him  two  leaves 
from  the  Tree  of  Life.  These  he  stuck  behind  his  ear,  and 
then  came  up  to  the  surface  once  more,  to  prove  by  these 
incontrovertible  signs  that  what  he  said  was  true ;  and  from 
that  day  to  this,  that  precious  romancer  has  been  believed. 
Evidently,  it  is  not  always  certain  that  truth  lies  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  well. 

In  another  part  of  this  same  mosque  are  two  pillars 
through  which  a  tolerably  stout  man  can  barely  squeeze 
himself.  The  story  connected  with  these  pillars  is  that  any 
one  who  can  crowd  through  between  them  is  sure  at  last  of 
crowding  into  Heaven.  Alas  for  the  fat  man !  There  is  no 
more  chance  for  him  to  enter  Paradise  through  this  gate 
than  for  a  camel  to  crawl  thouo;h  the  eve  of  a  needle. 

However,  neither  the  stout  man  nor  the  lean  man  nor 
the  middle-sized  man  could  be  deterred  on  anv  consideration 


THE   STABLES   OF   SOLOMON,  499 

from  trying  to  crowd  bis  way  between  the  pillars,  until  at 
last,  so  scandalous  became  the  crowding  and  pushing  of 
those  who  tried  to  get  into  Paradise  in  this  cheap  and  easy 
way,  that  the  Governor  of  Jerusalem  was  obliged  to  till  up 
the  space  with  an  iron  frame  which  still  remains  between 
the  pillars,  so  that  now  neither  fat  nor  lean  can  enter 
Heaven  by  this  door. 

In  this  mosque  there  is  a  very  beautiful  carved  pulpit, 
some  ancient  copies  of  the  Koran,  which  are  well  worth  ex- 
amining if  the  custodian  can  be  persuaded  to  let  us  have  a 
glimpse  of  them,  and  there  are  also  some  hairs  from  Moham- 
med's beard,  carefully  preserved  in  green  wooden  boxes. 
These,  I  understand,  are  never  visible  to  infidel  eyes,  and  we 
must  take  it  on  trust  that  wrapped  up  in  innumerable 
cloths  and  reposing  in  a  large  w^oodsn  box,  is  an  actual  hair 
from  the  very  beard  of  the  marvelous  man  who  so  deeply 
impressed  the  world  by  his  fanaticism  and  strange  person- 
ality. 

Underneath  the  mosque  of  El  Aksa  are  the  so-called 
^'  stables  of  Solomon,"  huge  subterranean  caverns  supported 
by  stone  pillars  in  which  one  would  think  a  thousand  horses 
might  easily  find  accommodation,  but  whether  one  of  Solo- 
mon's gaily  caparisoned  steeds  ever  munched  his  hav  and 
oats  in  these  caverns  is  an  open  question.  They  were  un- 
doubtedly, however,  used  by  the  Crusaders  and  Templars  in 
the  middle  ages,  and  the  rings  to  which  they  tied  their 
horses  are  still  found  in  the  stone  pillars.  >, 

Now  let  us  go  out  into  the  open  air  once  more.  It  is  re- 
freshing to  breath  God's  sweet  zephyrs,  and  to  stand  in  His 
sunlight  once  more,  after  the  dismal,  oppressing  shadows  of 
the  Mohammedan  mosque.  As  we  look  around  we  find 
that  both  of  these  mosques  and  the  other  buildings  of  the 
Haram  stand  on  a  broad  plateau,  much  of  which  is  given  up 


500  THE   PLACE   OF   THE   LAST  JUDGMENT. 

to  coarse  grass  and  coarser  weeds,  with  here  and  there  a 
pretty  wild  flower  peeping  out  of  its  green  bed. 

From  the  top  of  the  wall  we  can  get  a  magnificent  view 
of  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat  and  the  Mount  of  Olives  be- 
yond. The  whole  hillside,  which  slopes  down  to  the  deep 
ravine  and  then  rises  suddenly  on  the  other  side,  is  dotted 
with  tombs, —  Moslem  tombs  on  the  side  next  to  the  city, 
Jewish  graves  on  the  further  side,  for  Jews  and  Moslems 
alike  agree  that  here  at  the  resurrection  day  the  nations  will 
assemble  to  be  judged  for  the  deeds  done  in  the  body. 

To  them  this  is  the  most  solemnly  sacred  place  in  the 
world,  and  the  suggestion  from  the  wall  which  surrounds 
the  temple  area  is  surpassingly  awful  to  their  imagination. 
Projecting  over  the  wall  and  built  in  horizontally  is  a  pros- 
trate column.  The  Mohammedans  say  that  from  this  column 
a  thin  wire  rope,  when  Gabriel's  trumpet  blast  proclaims  the 
last  judgment,  will  be  stretched  to  the  Mount  of  Olives. 
Christ  will  sit  on  the  wall,  they  say,  and  Mohammed  on  the 
opposite  mountain  as  the  judges  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth 
who  will  be  gathered  in  the  valley  beneath.  All  men  must 
pass  over  the  valley  on  this  rope.  The  righteous  Avill  be 
miraculously  kept  from  falling,  and  will  fly  across  the  rope 
like  lightning,  while  the  wicked  will  fall  into  the  abyss 
below  and  there  will  writhe  in  torment  forever. 

There  are  many  more  traditions,  wonderful  and  startling 
and  curious,  Avhich  cluster  around  this  temple  area. 

Not  far  from  this  mosque,  which  is  so  crowded  with 
Moslem  traditions,  is  a  place  which  is  still  more  interesting 
and  far  more  pathetic  in  my  eyes  than  the  one  where  we 
have  spent  the  morning;  as  much  more  pathetic  as  is  real 
grief  than  doubtful  traditions  and  simulated  sorrow.  I  refer 
to  the  wailing  place  of  the  Jews.  To  this  sorrowful  spot 
let  us  take  our  way  through  the  dirty,  crowded  streets. 


JEWS   AT   THE    WAILING  PLACE. 


501 


It  is  Friday  afternoon  that  we  visit  this  most  doleful  place, 
and  after  windino-  in  and  out  throuo^h  narrow  streets  and 
lanes  we  liud  our  way  barred  by  a  high  wall  composed 
in  its  lower  courses  of  huge  blocks  of  stone.  This  wall  is  56 
feet  in  height  and  150  in  length  and  consists  of  24  layers  of 
stone,  several  of  the  stones  being  from  12  to  16  feet  in 
length. 

As  we  come  into  the  narrow  court3^ard  bounded  by  this 


^4-;f  ,V-|||iJ|i- 


WAILING  PLACE   OP  THE  JEWS. 


high  wall  we  find  it  filled  with  Jews  of  all  ages,  and  of  all 
conditions  of  life.  Men,  women,  and  children ;  well-dressed 
Jews  and  ragged  Jews ;  dirty  Jews  and  clean  Jews ;  dudish 
Jews  dressed  in  the  latest  Paris  style,  and  old  patriarchs  in 
sheepskin  jackets  and  baggy  trousers;  fresh  young  faces 
whose  beauty  is  not  wholly  spoiled  by  the  inevitable  Koman 
beak  which  so  often  makes  the  Jew  look  like  a  bird  of  prey, 
and  old  weather-beaten  Pharisees  with  love-locks  curliner 
about  each  ear,  and  dangling  down  under  their  round  caps. 


502  THE   SOLEMN   LITANY. 

Sitting  on  the  ground  were  several  old  rabbis,  reading 
from  well-thumbed  books  of  the  law  the  appropriate  pas- 
sages of  lamentation  and  woe,  while  others  responded  in 
grief -striken  accents,  "  We  sit  in  solitude  and  mourn." 

But  the  most  pathetic  sight  to  me  was  that  of  old 
women  whose  grief  could  not  be  restrained  and  was  evi- 
dently as  genuine  as  it  was  uncontrollable.  Spreading  out 
their  withered  hands  on  the  rough  stones  of  the  wall,  with 
tears  running  down  their  cheeks,  they  would  passionately 
kiss  the  stones  worn  smooth  by  the  lips  of  countless  pilgrims, 
and  cry  out  in  very  bitterness  of  spirit  as  they  thought 
of  the  glories  which  had  forever  departed  and  the  shame 
and  contumely  which  had  come  to  their  once  g^reat  nation. 

Here  is  the  litany  that  was  chanted,  and  my  readers  can 
imagine  the  weird  and  sorrowful  scene  as  the  leader,  with 
the  great  book  of  the  law  opened  before  him,  wails  out  his 
agony,  and  the  people,  many  of  them  with  tears  streaming 
down  their  faces,  utter  the  responses.  Here  is  this  strange 
responsive  service  which  every  week  for  many  generations 
has  been  heard  by  the  stern  gray  walls  that  overlook  the 
scene  and  seem  forever  to  bar  the  progress  and  happiness  of 
the  Jewish  nation. 

Leader.        "For  the  palace  that  lies  desolate," 
Response.     "  We  sit  in  solitude  and  mourn." 

Leader.        "  For  the  palace  that  is  destroyed," 
Resx>onse.     "  We  sit  in  solitude  and  mourn." 

Leader.        "  For  the  walls  that  are  overthrown," 

Response,     "  We  sit  in  solitude  and  mourn." 

Leader.        "  For  our  great  men  who  lie  dead," 
Response.     "  We  sit  i7i  solitude  and  mourn." 

Leader.        "  For  the  priests  who  have  stumbled," 
Response.     "  We  sit  in  solitude  and  mourn." 

Leader.        "For  our  kings  who  have  despised  him," 
Res]}onse.     "  We  sit  in  solitude  and  mourn." 


A   MORE   JOYOUS   STRAIN.  503 

At  this  point  the  service  rises  from  this  minor  key  for  a 
moment.  The  tears  of  the  wailing  multitude  are  dried  for  a 
little  while.  Thev  cease  to  beat  the  wall  with  their  with- 
ered  hands,  as,  for  a  moment,  the  joy  of  the  coming  kingdom 
in  which  they  still  hope  Israel  may  have  a  share,  breaks 
upon  their  vision ;  and,  while  their  leader  reads :  "  We  pray 
thee  have  mercv  on  Zion,"  the  response  comes  back, 
^'Gather  the  children  of  Jerusalem." 

Leader.        "  Haste,  haste,  Redeemer  of  Zion." 
Response.     "  Speak  to  tJie  heart  of  Jerusalem ." 

Leader.        "  May  beauty  and  majesty  surround  Zion." 
Respome.     "Ah,  turn  thyself,  merciful  to  Jerusalem." 

Leader.        "  May  the  kingdom  soon  return  to  Zion." 
Response.     "  Comfort  tJiose  who  mourn  over  Jerusalem." 

Leader.        •'  May  peace  and  joy  abide  with  Zion." 
Response.     "And  the  branch  of  Jesse  spring  up  at  Jerusalem." 

As  one  listens  to  this  sad  Avail,  even  though  relieved  at 
times  by  a  more  joyous  strain,  he  cannot  help  believing  that 
the  Jews  are  not  cast  off  forever,  that  a  people  of  so  much 
moral  earnestness  and  intensitv  have  a  great  future  as  well 
as  a  great  history  behind  them,  and  that  a  nation  that  has 
resisted  the  encroachments  of  every  enemy  that  could  be 
marshaled  against  them  and  still  retain  in  their  integrity  so 
many  of  their  national  characteristics,  have  a  strength  and 
tenacity  of  purpose  which  will  be  used  by  Providence  in 
working  out  in  the  future  His  great  design. 

Mean  and  squalid  as  is  the  wailing  place  of  the  Jews,  one 
returns  from  a  visit  there  not  only  impressed  and  saddened 
by  the  concentrated  grief  of  a  great  people,  but  also  im- 
pressed with  the  possibilities  of  such  a  people  when  regen- 
erated and  redeemed  by  the  Saviour  whom  now  they  reject, 
when  they  shall  take  their  place  among  the  united,  progress- 
ive Christian  nations  of  the  world. 


CHAPTEK    XXYII. 

IN  THE  HOME  OF  SAINT  PAUL  — THE  FAMOUS  CEDARS  OF 
LEBANON  — OUR  EXPERIENCES  IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE 
SULTAN  — AT  THE  MERCY  OF  INHOSPITABLE  TURKS. 


Embarking  at  Jaffa  —  Americans  in  Syria — Their  Splendid  College — An 
Interesting  Room  —  The  Beginning  of  Our  Tribulations  —  A  Turkish 
Custom  House  —  Forbidden  Words  —  The  Sapient  Censor  —  A  School 
Boy's  Composition  and  "What  Came  of  it  —  The  Use  of  Ironclads 
—  An  Ill-starred  Rebellion —  "  No  Mean  City"  — St.  Paul's  Well  — 
Drawing  Water  from  It  —  St.  Paul's  Tree  —  St.  Paul's  Institute  — 
Humble  Streets  — A  Walk  to  the  Vali's  Palace —"  Palace "  or 
"Sheds"?  —  In  the  Presence  of  His  Excellency — "The  Bouyou- 
rouldou  " — Official  Handwriting — A  Sunday  in  Adana  —  A  Living 
Screen  —  A  Congregation  of  Fezzes — Squatting  on  the  Floor — "Is 
America  on  a  Hill  ?  "  —  Preparing  for  our  Overland  Journey. 


UE,  way  from  the  Holy  City  to  the 
land  of  the  Sultan  proper,  led  back 
once  more  to  Jaffa,  where  we 
found  the  sea  smiling  and  calm  as 
thouo-h  it  had  never  thouo-ht  of 
frightening-  poor  pilgrims,  or  in- 
ffulfing:  their  frail  boats  as  it  so 
often  seems  to  do.  Our  embarka- 
tion was  as  quiet  and  peaceful  as 
the  landing  was  stormy,  and  the 
next  morning  after  leaving  Jaffa, 
we  found  ourselves  anchored  in 

the  roadstead  of  Beirut,  the  most  enterprising  and  populous 

seacoast  city  of  Syria. 

While  Beirut  has  many  points  of  interest  to  the  passing 

traveler,  that  which  impressed  us  most  strongly  was  the  work 

(504) 


TRANSLATING   THE  BIBLE   INTO   ARABIC.  505 

of  the  American  Presbyterian  Mission  with  its  great  printing 
presses,  its  churches,  its  school,  and  above  all  the  magnificent 
American  college  which  is  the  outgrowth  of  missionary  work 
and  influence,  and  which  now  boasts  of  buildings  and  equip- 
ment and  faculty  of  which  neither  Yale  nor  Harvard  nor 
Dartmouth  nor  Princeton  need  be  ashamed. 

The  Hospital  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John  is  here  under  the 
care  of  the  medical  faculty  of  the  college,  and  is  a  most  use- 
ful and  worthy  institution.  This  fine  university  only  goes 
to  show  that  modern  ideas  of  American  Christian  education 
are  just  as  good  for  the  Orient  as  for  the  Occident,  that  the 
same  training  and  Christian  nurture  which  develops  well- 
rounded,  symmetrical  character  in  the  American  youth 
accomplishes  the  same  for  the  young  men  of  Syria ;  for 
never  have  I  seen  a  more  manlv  or  interesting  bodv  of  stu- 
dents  than  assembled  in  the  American  College  of  Beirut. 
One  of  the  most  interesting  historical  sights  to  every  Ameri- 
can Christian  is  that  of  a  low  and  bare  attic-room  in  one  of 
the  mission  buildings  where  the  translation  of  the  Bible  into 
Arabic  was  begun  and  completed  by  two  American  scholars. 
A  marble  tablet  on  the  wall  bears  this  inscription : 

In  this  Room 

The  Translation  of  the  Bible 

Into  the  Arabic  Language 

Was  Begun  in  18Jf8, 

by  Rev.  Eli  Smith,  D.D., 

and  prosecuted  by  him  until  his  death  in  January,  1857. 

It  was  then  taken  up  in  October,  1857,  by  Rev.  C.  V.  A.  Vandyck,  D.D.,  aid 

completed  by  him  August  23,  1864. 

Away  to  the  north,  over  a  rough  and  diificult  road,  are 
the  famous  Cedars  of  Lebanon. 

They  are  in  a  valley  which  is  dominated  by  the  high 
peaks  of  the  range,  and  stand  on  a  little  hill  or  knoll,  so  that 
they  are  visible  from  a  considerable  distance. 


506  THE   FAMOUS   CEDARS   OF   LEBANON. 

Though  there  are  other  cedar  groves  in  Syria,  the  one 
here  mentioned  is  the  most  important,  for  the  reason  that  it 
is  supposed  to  have  furnished  the  timber  for  Solomon's  Tem- 
ple, as  recorded  m  the  Old  Testament. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  romantic  interest  attached  to  these 
trees.  One  has  heard  of  them  from  childhood,  and  has  pic- 
tured to  one's  self  trees  of  more  than  ordinary  Ijeauty,  and 
of  an  exceptional  fragrance.  These  ideas  probably  arise 
from  knowing  that  Solomon  considered  no  other  wood 
worthy  of  being  used  in  the  adornment  of  the  Temple,  and 
that  Tigiath-Pileser,  having  conquered  Carchemish,  came 
hither  for  the  express  purpose  of  carrying  away  a  goodly 
number  of  these  forest  treasures  to  beautify  his  palaces. 

It  IS  probable,  that  at  a  very  distant  date  the  slopes  of 
Lebanon  were  clothed  with  forest ;  but  from  time  to  time  so 
many  trees  have  been  cut  down  by  the  Syrians  themselves, 
as  well  as  by  their  conquerors,  that  at  the  present  day  they 
exist  only  in  small  isolated  groves.  The  most  extensive  of 
these,  known  to  us  as  "  The  Cedars  of  Lebanon,"  is  called  by 
the  Syrians  "  The  Grove  of  the  Lord,"  and  in  it  there  are 
three  hundred  and  ninety-three  trees  ;  of  these,  only  twelve 
are  of  any  great  size,  and  they  have  received  the  name  of 
"  The  Twelve  Apostles,"  from  a  tradition  that  Christ  once 
visited  this  spot  with  His  apostles,  who  planted  theii'  staves, 
which  grew  into  these  goodly  cedars. 

Kind  friends  made  our  two  days  in  Beirut  memorable, 
and  crowded  them  with  pleasant  memories.  Then  we  again 
took  ship,  and,  after  skirting  the  Mediterranean  coast,  touch- 
ing for  a  few  hours  at  Tripoli,  Latakia,  and  Alexandretta,  we 
came  to  anchor  m  the  harbor  of  Mersin,  and  found  ourselves, 
beyond  all  peradventure,  in  the  land  of  the  Sultan  of  Sultans, 
and  within  the  very  borders  of  the  unspeakable  Turk. 

To  be  sure,  Syria  is  nominally  ruled  by  the  Sultan  and 


oc  ::  -    ,^ 


a:         r;     ^ 


AT   THE   MERCY   OF   OFFICIOUS   TURKS. 


509 


pays  tribute  to  Turkey,  and  though  this  rule  is  severe  enough 
in  all  conscience,  and  his  oppression  and  tyranny  sufficiently 
galling,  yet  no  one  knows  the  full  extent  to  which  outrageous 
tyranny  can  be  carried,  until  he  actually  sets  foot  in  Asia 
Minor,  and  finds  himself  in  the  Turk's  own  proper  domain. 

Our  tribulations  began 
with  the  Custom  House. 
Though  we  had  three  or 
four  kind  friends  who  ex- 
erted themselv^es  to  their 
utmost  to  see  us  safely 
through,  their  offices  did 
not  altogether  avail.  Our 
trunks  were  rummaged, 
our  traveling  bags  were 
turned  inside  out,  and 
everything  in  the  nature 
of  a  book,  even  innocent 
Badasker  and  Murray,  was 
confiscated  by  this  pater- 
nal government  Avhich  is 
so  careful  in  regard  to  the 
reading  matter  of  its  sub- 
jects. And  here,  as  first 
we  land  upon  the  inhos- 
pitable shores  of  Turkey, 
may,  perhaps,  be  as  good 

a  time  as  anv  to  tell  my  readers  something  of  the  tyranny 
w^hich  is  only  typified  by  the  Sultan's  custom  house. 

It  can  be  well  imagined  that  the  work  of  the  Christian 
missionary  comes  in  for  the  especial  and  particularly  un- 
favorable notice  of  the  Turkish  government.  An  old  treaty 
with    the   Christian   powers    prevents  the   Ottomans  from 


DRUSE  FROM  MOUNT  LEBANON. 


510  OBSTACLES   THROWN   IN   OUR   WAY. 

crushing  out  Christianity  entirely  from  their  land,  as  they 
would  be  glad  to  do.  This  treaty  guarantees  liberty  to 
worship  God  as  the  people  choose,  but  in  every  way  in  which 
it  can  be  made  a  dead  letter  it  is  annulled.  Churches  which 
are  already  established  cannot  be  very  well  destroyed,  but  if 
a  cong-reg-ation  wishes  to  build  a  new  church  or  schoolhouse, 
or  to  put  up  any  mission  building  of  any  kind,  the  most 
needless  and  exasperating  obstacles  are  thrown  in  the  way. 
One  of  the  laws  requires  that  permission  shall  be  granted  by 
the  government  authorities  for  any  such  new  building,  and 
some  of  our  missionaries  have  been  waiting  for  years  and 
years  for  the  permission,  which  they  can  never  get,  to  erect 
their  church  or  schoolhouse,  even  though  the  money  is 
raised  and  the  material  on  hfcnd  for  the  structure. 

The  chief  object  in  my  journey  across  Asia  Minor,  as  my 
readers  know,  was  to  speak  in  various  large  centers  where  I 
had  been  invited  in  behalf  of  the  Society  of  Christian  En- 
deavor, and  to  visit  societies  already  established.  But  I 
found  at  once  that  obstacles  and  restrictions  in  the  way  of 
Christian  work  had  so  multiplied  of  late  that  it  would  be 
very  difficult  to  do  what  I  had  intended.  I  was  told  that  I 
must  not  use  in  public  address  the  words  '^organization," 
"  society,"  "  fellowship,"  "  brotherhood,"  or  anything  which 
told  of  the  union  of  young  people  for  religious  or  other 
purposes;  that  it  was  against  the  policy  of  the  Turkish 
government  to  allow  the  people  to  unite  or  combine  for  any 
purpose  whatsoever  in  any  society  or  organization,  and  that 
everything  was  being  done  that  was  possible  to  break  up 
all  religious  organizations. 

In  every  audience  which  I  addressed,  and  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  speaking  to  many  during  my  four  weeks  in 
Turkey,  I  was  told  that  a  Turkish  spy  was  in  the  congrega- 
tion, and  that  any  ill-considered  word  might  land  myself  and 


TURKISH   STUPIDITY   AND   IGNORANCE.  511 

half  my  audience  in  a  Turkish  jail.  Everything  in  the  way 
of  printed  matter  whicli  comes  into  Turkey  has  to  pass  under 
the  close  scrutiny  of  a  stupid  and  ignorant  censor  of  the 
press.  So  absurd  are  his  objections,  and  so  rigid  is  his 
inspection,  that  very  little  literature  of  any  kind  is  allowed 
in  these  days. 

As  ilhistrations  of  the  stupidity  which  reigns  in  the 
censor's  office  many  amusing  stories  are  told.  For  instance, 
a  Sunday-school  lesson,  which  bore  the  Scriptural  title 
"Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,"  was 
amended  by  the  censor  so  as  to  read,  "  Jesus  Christ  came 
into  the  world  to  save  Christian  sinners,"  since  he  wanted  it 
plainly  understood  that  the  Eedeemer  had  nothing  to  do 
with  Turkish  sinners.  A  dail}^  Bible  reading,  which  was 
headed  "  Trouble  in  the  Palace,"  referring  to  the  palace 
which  is  spoken  of  in  the  Book  of  Esther,  w^as  forbidden 
because  trouble  and  a  palace  (the  Sultan's  palace,  of  course) 
could  not  be  spoken  of  in  the  same  breath.  Another  Bible 
reading  which  bore  the  inoffensive  title,  "  The  People  En- 
couraged," was  likewise  absolutely  forbidden,  with  the  sug- 
gestive comment  that  the  government  did  not  wish  the  people 
to  be  encouraged. 

Doubtless  the  truth  was  spoken  in  this  comment  if  in  no 
other,  but  this  extreme  rigor  of  the  censor  applies  not  only 
to  religious  books,  but  to  school  text-books  as  well,  and  here 
even  more  absurd  and  amusing  stories  of  the  censor's  stupid 
caution  are  told.  A  book  on  chemistry,  which  of  course 
contained  the  familiar  formula,  "HgO,"  was  forbidden, 
because  it  was  supposed  to  have  some  occult  reference  to  the 
reigning  sovereign,  who  is  Hamid  2d,  and  it  was  interpreted 
to  mean  "  Hamid  2d  is  nothing.''  A  geographical  text-book 
was  forbidden  because  it  referred  to  the  junction  or  union  of 
rivers,  and  the  author  was  told  that  his  Majesty  desired  the 


512  A   DISCREET    ARMENIAN. 

youth  of  his  coiintrv  to  know  nothing  about  union  or  com- 
bination. A  chapter  on  star  lishes  was  stricken  out  of  a 
text-book  of  natural  history,  because  some  hicklen  reference 
to  the  Sultan's  ''  Star  palace  "  was  suspected. 

But  these  emendations  and  objections  of  the  censor  might 
easily  be  dismissed  with  a  laugh,  as  the  yagaries  of  an 
iffnorant  man  haying  in  his  hands  for  a  brief  time  the  reins 
of  office,  did  they  not  show  a  studied  and  deliberate  effort  on 
the  part  of  the  officials  to  preyent  all  learning  and  adyance- 
ment  along  the  line  of  Christian  ciyilization.  The  policy  of 
the  goyernment  is  eyidently  oppressiye  and  reactionary,  and 
it  means  to  do  eyerything  that  it  can  to  crush  out  the  sparks 
of  Christian  education. 

"When  it  comes  to  absolute  torture,  imprisonment,  and 
death,  this  oppression  is  no  longer  a  laughing  matter,  and  to 
this  point  it  has  come  to  hundreds  of  the  subjects  of  the 
Sultan.  An  intelligent  and  well-educated  natiye  Armenian 
Protestant  pastor  whom  I  yisited  had  recently  receiyed  a 
letter  from  Prof.  Henry  Drummond  of  GlasgOAy,  in  which 
the  writer  spoke  of  his  desire  to  yisit  "  Armenia^  The  poor 
man  who  receiyed  the  letter  did  not  dare  to  keep  it  in  his 
house  with  that  compromising  word  on  the  title  page,  so  he 
had  carefully  cut  out  the  word  ''  Armenia,"  and  written  oyer 
the  place  where  it  had  formerly  appeared  the  word  "  Turkey.'' 
Eyen  the  possession  of  that  letter  with  that  compromising 
w^ord  might  haye  meant  for  him  years  of  imprisonment  in  a 
Turkish  dungeon. 

Another  man  of  whom  I  know  was  imprisoned  for  two 
years  simply  because  the  Turkish  police  found  among  his 
effects,  when  they  were  searching  his  house  on  one  occasion, 
a  school-boy  composition  which  spoke  of  freedom  and  liberty, 
and  expressed  some  natural  sentiments  for  a  larger  and  more 
untrammeled  life  than  he  was  then  leading.     This  composi- 


A   COWARDLY   TYRANT.  513 

tion,  written  fifteen  years  before  his  arrest,  had  been  thrown 
one  side  and  entirely  forgotten  until  it  was  resurrected  by 
the  prying  Turkish  officials.  But  it  was  enough  to  compro- 
mise its  author,  and  for  two  years  he  languished  in  a  Turkish 
jail  in  consequence  of  that  innocent  boyish  effusion.  These 
are  only  a  few  incidents  from  many  that  might  be  cited  to 
illustrate  the  outrageous  tyranny  of  the  weak  and  timid  ruler 
who  reigns  on  the  banks  of  the  Bosphorus.  They  are 
enouffh,  however,  to  show  the  terror  under  which  many  of 
"the  sick  man's"  subjects  liv^e,  and  they  are  enough  to 
arouse  the  indignation  of  every  freedom-loving  American 
and  Englishman  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

Only  by  a  combined  protest  of  the  Christian  powers  of 
the  world,  backed  up  by  the  necessary  ironclads,  can  this  un- 
happy state  of  things  be  changed ;  but  such  a  protest  would 
be  effective,  and  very  quickly  would  the  cringing  tyrant,  in 
whose  name  these  outrages  are  perpetrated,  issue  different 
orders  from  those  which  now  go  forth  from  his  palace,  if  he 
saw  that  the  Christian  powers  "  meant  business."  The  pre- 
text for  these  especially  oppressive  measures  which  have 
disgraced  the  government  during  the  past  year,  is  found  in 
the  so-called  Armenian  rebellion,  an  ill-timed,  fruitless,  and 
abortive  uprising  which  was  fomented  largely  by  a  society 
of  Armenians  whose  motives  were  anything  but  patriotic. 

They  represented,  however,  only  a  very  small  proportion 
of  their  countrymen,  and  the  chief  result  of  their  ill-starred 
rebellion  has  been  to  make  their  fellow  countrymen  feel 
more  se"^erely  than  ever  before  the  crushing  heel  of  the 
tyrant  of  Constantinople. 

But  we  have  not  yet  got  beyond  the  custom  house  at 
Mersin,  so  long  have  we  been  in  unburdening  our  souls  of  the 
righteous  indignation  that  has  taken  possession  of  them. 

Mersin  is  an  uninteresting  seacoast  town,  where  some  fine 


514  IN   THE    HOME   OF    SAINT  PAUL. 

missionary  work  is  being  accomplished  by  the  Reformed 
Presbyterian  Church  of  America  among  the  Arabic-speaking 
Syrians.  As  soon  as  we  could  collect  the  belongings  which 
the  government  allowed  us  to  keep,  we  boarded  the  train  on 
the  little  railway  which  runs  between  Mersin  and  Adana. 
What  is  the  name  of  this  place  which  we  hear  the  brakeman 
calling  out  with  stentorian  lungs?  "Tarsus,  Tarsus."  Can 
it  be  that  this  is  the  famous  city  of  Bible  history,  the  birth- 
place of  the  greatest  man  who  ever  lived,  the  Apostle  to  the 
Gentiles?  It  certainly  is  no  other.  This  was  the  city  of 
the  great  tent-maker,  who  here  wrought  with  his  own  hands, 
and  who,  with  a  touch  of  pardonable  pride  in  after  years, 
spoke  of  Tarsus,  his  birthplace,  as  "  no  mean  city." 

The  first  thought  that  is  apt  to  occur  to  the  traveler  in 
modern  days  is  that  whatever  Tarsus  may  have  been  in  the 
days  of  Saint  Paul  it  is  certainly  a  very  mean  city  in  some 
of  its  aspects  to-day.  Its  streets  are  many  of  them  narrow 
and  exceedingly  filthy.  Few  of  its  houses  present  any 
claim  to  architectural  excellence.  The  roads  leading  to  it 
are  washed  and  almost  impassable  in  many  places,  and  yet 
in  all  these  particulars  it  is  not  only  no  worse,  but  probably 
far  better  than  the  average  Turkish  city.  Comparatively 
speaking,  it  can  still  be  said  that  Tarsus  is  no  mean  city. 

Everything  of  chief  interest  in  this  ancient  place  clusters 
about  the  name  of  the  great  apostle.  To  be  sure,  the  re- 
puted tomb  of  Sardana])alus  is  here,  but  it  attracts  only  a 
momentary  and  languid  interest  compared  with  anything 
that  relates  to  Saint  Paul.  These  relics  are  few  an'd  meagre 
enough,  and  probably,  in  the  whole  collection,  there  is  noth- 
ing that  is  absolutely  and  beyond  question  authentic. 

Here,  however,  is  the  so-called  house  of  Saint  Paul, 
which  of  course  we  visited.  In  the  ample  courtyard  there  is 
an  ancient  well  which  goes  by  the  name  of  "Saint  Paul's 


THE   HOUSE  AND   WELL   OF   SAINT   PAUL.  515 

"Well,"  whose  curbstone  is  worn  deep  in  many  places  by  the 
ropes  which  for  countless  generations  have  drawn  the  water 
from  its  liquid  depths.  "We  also  drew  a  bucket  of  water 
and  quenched  our  thirst  and  looked  down  into  the  silent 
depths  which  reflected  the  eye  of  the  sun  as  it  doubtless 
did  when  the  boy  Saul  peered  down  into  its  depths,  for  these 
ancient  wells  are  among  the  most  authentic  as  they  are  the 
most  indestructible  evidences  of  antiquity. 

The  house  of  Saint  Paul,  which  occupies  one  side  of  this 
courtyard,  is  no  doubt  a  comparatively  modern  structure,  but 
it  is  quite  possible  that  it  stands  upon  the  site  of  Saint  Paul's 
own  domicile.  It  was  formerly  the  residence  of  the  Ameri- 
can Yice-Consul  at  Tarsus,  and  w^e  were  very  hospitably 
welcomed  by  his  widow  into  their  sitting-room,  a  comfort- 
able apartment  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  broad  Turkish 
divans,  but  containing  no  very  noticeable  features  or  me- 
mentoes. 

In  another  part  of  the  city  is  a  fine  Armenian  church 
and  school,  near  which  stands  a  gnarled  and  rugged  tree 
which  tradition  for  many  generations  has  called  "Saint 
PauFs  tree."  For  many  years  it  has  been  withered  and 
utterly  dead,  and  it  is  not  altogether  impossible  that  it  may 
have  been  growing  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  and  that 
the  boy  Saul  played  under  its  shady  branches.  At  any  rate, 
its  wood  seems  to  be  almost  indestructible,  for  when,  with 
the  permission  of  the  authorities  which  owned  it,  I  tried  to 
cut  a  sliver  from  its  trunk  as  a  memento,  it  almost  turned 
the  blade  of  my  penknife,  so  compact  was  the  iron  fibre  of 
the  wood. 

But  of  all  the  institutions  connected  with  the  name  of 
Saint  Paul  the  one  most  interesting  to  me  was  Saint  Paul's 
School,  which  was  founded  by  the  late  Col.  Elliott  F.  Shep- 
herd.    On  the  very  day  of  our  arrival  in  Tarsus  news  of  his 


516  DIRT   AND   FILTH    EVERYWHERE. 

lamented  death  had  been  cabled  across  the  sea,  and  teachers 
and  scholars  alike  were  in  profound  sorro\v  in  consequence. 
However,  their  sorrow  was  mitigated  Avhen  it  was  learned 
after  a  little  that  he  had  endowed  the  school  with  $100,000 
by  his  last  will  and  testament.  A  fine,  manly,  courageous 
set  of  boys  were  these  who  were  gathered  together  to  the 
number  of  nearly  one  hundred  in  this  liistoric  city,  and 
according  to  their  ability  and  opportunity,  many  will  go  out 
from  this  school  in  the  future  with  the  spirit  of  Saint  Paul 
to  do  for  their  land  what  he  did  for  all  the  world. 

From  Tarsus  to  Adana  is  twenty  miles  further  by  rail,  and 
in  this  latter  city  we  spent  two  or  three  memorable  days,  for 
they  introduced  us  largely  to  missionary  work  in  Turkey, 
and  acquainted  us  with  several  brave  hearts  who  are  here 
quietly  and  unostentatiously  working  for  the  Master.  Here, 
too,  we  got  our  first  extended  view  of  genuine  Turkish  life. 

Here  Turkey  is  neither  at  its  worst  nor  at  its  best.  Pro- 
testant influence  has  leavened  and  elevated  the  tone  of  the 
city  to  some  extent,  but  the  many  minarets  from  which  five 
times  a  day  at  the  hour  of  prayer  the  muezzin  sounds  his 
call  shows  that  the  predominating  influence  is  still  most 
strongly  Mohammedan.  The  horrible  streets  full  of  pitfalls 
and  miry  clay,  the  filthy  alleys  which  serve  as  rece23tacles 
for  rubbish  and  swill,  garbage  and  dead  animals  of  various 
kinds,  show  that  insufferable  dirt  is  one  concomitant  of 
Turkish  rule. 

One  of  our  errands  while  in  Adana  took  us  to  the  Yali  or 
governor  of  the  province,  for  we  desired  of  him  passports 
and  a  safe  conduct  across  the  country  to  Constantinople. 
Let  us  take  this  walk  and  visit  the  Yali  together  this  morn- 
ing. As  we  turn  out  of  the  mission  house,  where  we  are 
making  our  home,  we  see  at  a  glance  that  we  are  in  the 
very  heart  of  Turkey.     Every  person  whom  we  meet,  even 


THE    UBIQUITOUS   TURKISH   FEZ. 


617 


the  occasional  foreigner,  if  lie  is  of  the  male  persuasion, 
wears  the  inevitable  red  Turkish  fez,  and  most  of  them  are 
clad  in  baggy  trousers  and  long  loose  garments  which  reach 
below  the  knee.     In  one  of  the  narrow  streets  though  which 


OUR  TURKISH  PASSPORT. 


we  pass  we  see  the  weaver  of  goat's  hair  plying  his  trade 
almost  on  the  sidewalk. 

This  was  the  very  same  material,  doubtless,  of  which 
Paul  made  his  tents,  and  perhaps  he  wove  the  cloth  in  the 
same  way  as  this  man  who  runs  back  and  forth  from  one 
end  to  the  other  of  his  long  loom,  deftly  twirling  his  bobbin 


518  IN   THE   STREETS   OF  A  TURKISH   CITY. 

and  twisting  tlie  strands  of  goat's  liair  which  afterwards  will 
be  made  up  into  a  rough  and  serviceable  cloth. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  street  from,  the  goat's  hair  man- 
ufacturer is  a  mill  in  which  sesame  oil  is  being  expressed. 
The  sesame  seed  is  run  into  a  great  hopper  after  being 
soaked  for  a  sufficient  time  in  the  vats,  and  is  then  ground 
very  fine  beneath  the  revolving  stones  which  are  turned  by 
a  tread-mill  ox,  while  the  oil,  thick  and  dirty,  runs  out  into 
the  vats  beneath  from  a  crevice  in  the  mill-stone.  This  oil  is 
very  much  prized  by  the  natives,  and  is  used  largely  in  mak- 
ing a  popular  kind  of  sweetmeat,  which  one  cannot  fail  to 
appreciate  if  he  spends  many  days  in  Turkey,  so  toothsome 
and  nourishing  is  it. 

And  now  in  our  walk,  we  come  to  the  market-place  of 
the  town,  a  long  covered  street  lined  with  little  booths  on 
either  side,  in  which  everything  imaginable  and  many  things 
unimaginable  are  sold.  Hardware  and  crockery,  dry  goods 
and  groceries,  fish,  flesh,  and  fowl,  and  good  red  herrings, 
too,  for  aught  I  know,  are  all  sold  in  this  busy  bazaar.  Here 
are  money  changers  and  shoemakers,  fez  manufacturers  and 
kettle  makers,  all  jostling  one  another  side  by  side  in  their 
narrow  booths.  It  is  a  scene  of  infinite  life  and  variety,  and 
would  long  delay  our  footsteps,  if  we  were  not  hurrying  on 
to  see  his  Excellency,  the  Yali  of  Adana,  to  learn  whether  or 
not  we  may  be  allowed  to  make  the  journey  on  which  we 
have  set  our  hearts. 

I^ot  far  beyond  the  market  place  is  the  so-called  "  palace," 
but  a  sorry  looking  palace  it  is,  indeed,  for  it  strikes  us  that 
it  might  more  properly  be  called  the  "sheds,"  since  it  consists 
of  a  long  row  of  poor  wooden  structures  around  a  large 
quadrangle.  However,  it  is  more  picturesque  and  impress- 
ive to  speak  of  the  Yali's  "palace"  rather  than  the  Yalfs 
"sheds,"  so  we  will  stick  to  the  Turkish  nomenclature. 


OUR  INTERVIEW  WITH  THE  VALI.  519 

Passing  many  Turkish  guards  and  a  large  number  of  im- 
portant looking  officials,  who  push  aside  for  us  numerous 
stiff  hangings  of  heavy  quilted  stuffs  which  take  the  place  of 
doors,  we  find  ourselves  soon  in  a  large  shabby  room  hung 
with  faded  red  tapestry,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  Yali  him- 
self. He  is  a  grave  looking  man  of  fifty  years,  or  therea- 
bouts, with  a  good  face  which  indicates  that  he  is  willing  to 
do  what  he  can  for  our  comfort  and  convenience.  First,  he 
politely  passed  us  a  cigarette,  which  we  as  politely  declined, 
and  then,  apologizing  for  not  giving  us  coffee  and  other 
refreshments  because  it  was  Kamidan,  he  talked  very  pleas- 
antly for  a  little  while  of  various  matters,  while  our  mission- 
ary guide  interpreted  his  Turkish  into  our  English.  Then 
insisting  that  we  should  not  go  to  Constantinople  by  way  of 
Marsovan,  which  just  then  was  the  center  of  the  Armenian 
disturbance,  but  that  we  should  go  by  way  of  Angora  which 
was  more  peaceful,  he  very  readily  gave  us  the  necessary 
passports  or  tezkereis,  and  also  a  safe  conduct,  or  "  bouyou- 
rouldou."  This  document  was  written  in  huge  Turkish 
characters,  not  straight  across  the  page,  but  in  a  slanting, 
irregular,  reckless  kind  of  a  fashion  in  which  all  official 
Turkish  documents  are  written,  for  it  is  not  at  all  aufait  to 
write  such  papers  in  ordinary  epistolary  style. 

Such  bold  and  vigorous  penmanship  is  supposed  to  strike 
terror  to  the  hearts  of  all  evil  doers  who  may  be  confronted 
by  it.  It  shows  them  that  it  is  an  official  document,  and,  as 
we  proved  more  than  once  during  the  long  journey  before 
us,  there  is  nothing  like  a  governor's  bouyourouldou  to  insure 
a  safe  and  happy  transit  across  the  fields  of  Turkey. 

One  of  the  two  days  which  we  spent  in  Adana  was  Sun- 
day, and  I  had  the  pleasure  of  preaching  to  a  very  large  and 
intellio;ent  cono-reo^ation  gathered  in  the  American  Mission 
Church.     The  church  itself  is  not  an  extremely  large  one. 


520 


PREACHING   TO   A  TURKISH   CONGREGATION. 


but  as  seats  are  done  away  with,  and  as  the  congregation 
squats  on  the  floor  as  closely  as  men,  women,  and  children 
can  be  wedged  together,  many  hundreds  of  people  can  be 
gathered  into  a  comparatively  small  area.  Of  cohrse  it  is  not 
proper  for  men  and  women  to  sit  together  promiscuously  in 
the  same  part  of  the  church.     In  many  churches  women  are 


A  SYRIAN  WOMAN   OF  THE  LOWER  CLASS. 

relegated  to  the  gallery,  or  are  confined  behind  the  lattice 
screen  in  the  back  part  of  the  church  through  which  they 
can  peep  at  the  preacher,  but  through  which  they  cannot  be 
seen  by  preacher  or  congregation. 

In  Adana,  however,  the  middle  wall  or  partition  between 
the  men  and  women  was  made  in  a  different  Avay.  The 
long  row  of  benches  ran  through  the  center  of  the  church 


AX   AUDIENCE   OF   SQUATTERS. 


521 


from  the  pulpit  to  the  door.  On  these  benches  sat  a  close 
line  of  men  with  their  backs  nno-allantlv  turned  toward  the 
women,  who  occupied  the  space  on  the  right  hand  side  of  the 
church,  screened  from  the  other  men  bv  the  backs  of  the 
husbands  and  fathers  who  thus  afford  an  effectual  barrier 
between  the  tAvo  sexes. 

These  high  seats  in  the  sanctuary  are  much  coveted,  I 
understand,  by  the  older 
and  more  dignified  men  of 
the  cono-reffation,  and  no 
one  is  averse  to  doing  duty 
as  a  living  screen.  All  the 
men  wore  red  fezzes  while 
the  chief  speaker  was  dis- 
tinguished by  a  jaunty  em- 
broidered blue  cap  which 
looked  something  like  a 
smoking  cap.  This  he  re- 
moved during  the  services 
at  which  he  officiated. 
"When  I  thought  that  every 
possible  inch  of  squatting 
room  was  occupied  on  the 
women's  side  of  the  parti- 
tion, woman  after  woman  would  come  in,  stand  on  one  foot 
for  some  little  time. in  the  smallest  possible  space,  until  her 
sisters  before  and  behind  and  on  either  side  pulled  away  their 
skirts,  drew  their  knees  a  little  closer  together,  and  so  made 
room  for  the  late  comer. 

At  last  the  church  was  absolutely  full,  the  service  began, 
and  a  very  helpful,  reverent,  and  stimulating  service  it  was 
so  far  as  I  could  judge  ;  though  I  could  not  understand  the 
hymns  or  the  Scripture  readings  or  the  notices,  and  the  ser- 


-.1  'MU  ^'\ 


A  SYRIAN  "WOMAN  OP  THE  BETTER  CLASS. 


523 


THE   COLLECTION  BOX  IN  TURKEY. 


men,  which  I  fear  was  the  poorest  part  of  the  service,  was 
laboriously  translated  from  English  into  Turkish.  I  did 
understand  the  collection  box,  however,  which  is  the  same  in 


all  languages. 


It  is  ver}^  certain  that  such  a  congregation  as  this  repre- 
sents the  very  best  elements  in  a  Turkish  town.     'Not  that 


/ 


■^rW^.,'  ..   r^-'^^h^ 


OUR   LIFE   PRESERVER. 
(Facsimile  of  onr  "  Bouyourouldou."J 


the  Armenians  themselves  are  superior  to  the  Turks  as  a 
race,  in  fact,  it  would  be  strange,  if,  after  these  centuries  of 
oppression  and  tyranny  their  national  characteristics  should 
be  very  manly  or  strong.  Those  who  live  in  Turkey  say 
that  the  Turk,  when  found  free  from  government  influence 
and  not  under  government  employ,  is  the  most  honest, 
manly,  and  straightforward  man  in  the  empire.     He  makes 


REMARKABLE  IGNORANCE  AND  AMUSING  QUESTIONS.      533 

a  faithful  servant  and  a  true  friend,  but  he  belongs  to  the 
present  order  of  things.  He  is  part  of  the  machine  which  is 
used  to  crush  the  life  out  of  this  poor  land  and  the  manliness 
out  of  the  subject  races  who  mhabit  it.  The  only  hope 
which  I  see  for  Turkey  is  found  in  these  mission  churches 
and  mission  schools  which  are  always  connected  with  them. 
When  the  upheaval  comes,  as  surely  it  will  come  one  of  these 
days,  the  educated  Armenian  Protestants  "will  hold  the  key 
of  the  situation  in  their  hands.  Then  will  be  seen  the  value 
of  missionary  influence  and  missionary  work  during  these 
long  decades,  and  that  which  has  been  sown  in  tears  will  be 
reaped  in  joy,  and  many  a  faithful  missionary  will  sing  the 
"  Harvest  Home,"  bearing  himself  the  largest  sheaf  which 
it  is  possible  for  mortal  to  reap. 

The  ignorance  of  the  average  Turk  concerning  places  and 
people  beyond  him  is  most  extraordinary  and  amusing. 
Many  of  them  have  very  little  idea  that  Turkey  does  not  rule 
all  the  rest  of  the  world,  including  America,  and  many  of 
the  Turks  have  only  just  begun  to  wonder  if  it  is  possible 
that  all  the  people  of  the  world  are  not  Mohammedans.  One 
of  these  conceited  and  ignorant  natives  said  to  a  friend  of 
mine  a  little  while  ago :  "  You  are  constantly  talking 
about  America.  Now  is  this  America  on  a  hill  or  is  it  situ- 
ated in  a  valley?"  Another,  when  walking  outside  of  a 
Turkish  city,  in  a  most  flat,  uninteresting  suburb,  which  Avas 
chiefly  noticeable  for  its  rubbish  and  its  dead  cats,  where  my 
friend  assured  me  he  had  to  hold  his  nose  in  order  to  escape 
the  stifling  stench,  was  asked  by  a  native  friend  by  his  side  : 
"  Did  you  ever  see  anything  as  beautiful  as  this  in  America  ? " 
It  is  difficult,  indeed,  to  enlighten  such  dense  ignorance. 

Two  days  in  Adana  sufficed  to  make  all  our  preparations 
for  the  coming  journey.  In  fact,  the  friend  who  had  come 
from  the  interior  to  meet  us  with  his  faithful  Turkish  servant. 


524       PREPARING  FOR  OUR  JOURNEY   ACROSS  TURKEY. 

bad  already  made  most  of  these  preparations  before  we  bad 
come.  The  spring  wagon,  tbe  pride  of  tbe  touring  mission- 
ary, bad  come  all  tbe  long  journey  across  tbe  mountains  to 
carry  us  back  within  its  capacious  interior.  Our  passports 
and  our  safe  conduct  were  all  correctly  vised.  Our  Turkish 
guard,  tbe  soldier  who  was  to  protect  us  from  all  the  robbers 
and  dangers  in  the  way,  armed  cajMo-jne,  was  to  meet  us  at 
Tarsus  next  day,  whence  we  should  set  out  for  our  long  over- 
land trip,  fraught  as  it  was  with  unknown  dangers  and 
difficulties. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

A  REMARKABLE  JOURNEY  ACROSS  ASIA  MINOR  IN  A  SPRING 
WAGON  —  THRILLING  EXPERIENCES  BY  THE  WAY  — A 
DANGEROUS  RIDE. 

An  Imposing  Cavalcade  —  Foolish  "Franks" — An  Arsenal  of  Archaic 
Weapons  —  Ali,  the  Turk  —  Anastas,  the  Errand  Boy — "Meat"  — 
Entrancing  Scenery  —  Snow-capped  Lebanon  —  Eloquent  Ruins  —  Our 
Fellow  Travelers  —  Caravans  of  Camels  —  The  Patient  Donkey — 
Pleasant  Salutations — "May  the  Almighty  Cling  to  your  Hand"  — 
The  Motto  of  the  Spoons  — The  Story  of  the  Dervish  — The  Holy  Ass 

—  A  Chip  of  the  Old  Block  — Keeping  Off  the  "Evil  Eye"  — "You 
Dirty  Brat"  —  A  Fond  Mother's  Salutation  —  The  Mother-in-Law  in 
Turkey  —  A  Typical  Turkish  Khan  —  Sharing  a  Bed  with  the  Camels 

—  Through  the  Cilician  Gates  — The  "Bad  Five  Miles"  — How  We 
Held  the  Wagon  Crossing  the  Taurus  Mountains  —  In  the  Guest  Room 
of  Selim. 


T  was  a  bright  spring  morning 
when  we  set  out  from  Tarsus  for 
the  long  journey  across  the  Tau- 
rus mountains  and  over  the 
plains  of  Asa  Minor  for  the 
beautiful  city  on  the  Golden 
Horn.  TVe  formed  quite  an  im- 
posing cavalcade  for  these  roads 
unaccustomed  to  wheeled  ve- 
hicles. The  camel  drivers  stared 
at  our  wagon,  the  donkey  boys 
pricked  up  their  ears  as  they  saw 
us  approaching,  and  gazed  at  us  until  we  had  disappeared  in 
the  dim  distance,  wondering,  we  suppose,  why  those 
"  Franks  "  should  be  so  foolish  as  to  start  across  the  country 

in  wagons  when  they  could  so  much  more  easily  go  by  sea. 

(  525) 


526  A  NATIVE   TRAVELING   OUTFIT. 

In  front  of  us  pranced  our  Turkish  soldier,  or  Zabtiyeh, 
who  had  made  himself  a  perfect  arsenal  of  obsolete  weapons. 
Then  came  the  two-horse  wagon  into  which  was  packed  not 
onlv  our  three  selves  and  our  missionarv  ffuide  and  driver, 
but  four  cot  beds  with  appropriate  bedding,  pillows,  blank- 
ets, and  coverlets  for  the  cool  nights,  and  a  huge  basketful 
of  pro\asions  which  our  kind  host  had  packed  for  us  with 
the  utmost  care,  and  which  was  supposed  to  be  enough, 
when  supplemented  by  occasional  draughts  on  native  stores 
by  the  way,  to  last  us  to  Caesarea,  six  days  distant. 

Following  this  wagon  came  a  disreputable-looking  spring- 
less  cart  drawn  by  two  specimens  of  Turkish  horse  flesh, 
and  carrying  two  trunks  and  various  provisions  in  the  way 
of  bedding  and  provender  for  men  and  beasts.  The  driver 
and  owner  of  this  cart  was  a  native  who  wished  to  get  to 
Caesarea  and  who  was  glad  to  earn  a  few  chereks  on  the 
way. 

With  him  was  our  faithful  servant  Ali,  a  character  in  his 
way,  shrewd,  kindly,  competent,  and  faithful  to  the  last  de- 
gree, a  man  who,  I  verily  believe,  would  lay  down  his  life 
for  his  master  or  for  any  one  in  the  party  if  danger  came  in 
the  way.  Nominal  Turk  though  he  was,  his  allegiance  to 
the  false  prophet  evidently  sat  very  lightly  upon  him,  for  he 
always  appeared  at  prayers  morning  and  night,  and  seemed 
to  be  among  the  most  devout  worshipers  at  the  Protestant 
church  services  on  the  way.  To  avow  himself  a  convert  to 
Christianity  would  doubtless  have  compelled  him  either  to 
forfeit  his  life  or  his  country.  His  courage  as  yet  was  not 
quite  equal  to  this  supreme  test,  though  I  have  no  doubt  that 
in  heart  he  was  a  sincere  Christian. 

Together  with  Ali  and  the  driver  was  an  assistant,  a  sort 
of  general  errand-boy,  fire-builder,  wood-carrier,  and  water- 
drawer,  named   Anastas.     He   had   run   away  from  home 


"   TiiTii  *  m        titt;i  a  m    " 


MEAT,    MEAT.  527 

some  weeks  previously,  but  was  now  heartily  sick  of  his  fool- 
ish adventure  and  was  quite  willing  to  work  his  passage 
back  to  Caesarea  once  more.  The  little  pilgrim  seemed  to 
have  a  wonderful  attraction  for  him.  Anastas  could 
scarcely  keep  his  eyes  or  his  hands  off  him.  He  would  fol- 
low him  about  all  day  like  a  big,  good-natured  shepherd  dog. 
He  would  run  races  with  him  and  chase  hamsters  and  en- 
gage in  stone-flinging  matches,  and  every  now  and  then  he 
would  come  up  to  him  and  taking  his  hand  would  say  very 
impressively,  "  Meat,  meat."  For  a  long  time  we  could  not 
understand  the  significance  of  this  word,  until  it  was  at  last 
explained  to  us  that  he  thought  this  was  the  little  pilgrim's 
name,  as  he  had  heard  some  one  asking  him  to  pass  the  meat 
at  the  dinner  table.  Jumping  at  this  conclusion  from  such 
uncertain  premises  he  was  not  able  to  get  the  idea  out  of  his 
head  during  all  the  long  journey,  but  in  every  way  possible 
showed  his  interest  and  affection  in  his  little  friend  "  Meat." 
For  a  short  distance  from  Tarsus  we  were  escorted  by 
two  of  the  faithful  teachers  of  Saint  Paul's  institute  to 
which  I  have  before  alluded.  Then  they  turned  their  horses, 
bade  us  adieu,  and  galloped  back  to  Tarsus,  leaving  us  alone 
with  the  long  three-weeks  journey  before  us.  For  a  little 
way  out  of  Tarsus  the  road  is  tolerably  good  as  Turkish 
roads  go,  and  in  some  places  it  is  possible  for  horses  which 
are  fresh  and  ready  for  the  journey  to  trot  for  a  little  way. 
But  soon  the  hills  begin  and  the  roads  become  unutterably 
rough  and  rugged.  The  air,  however,  is  clear  and  bracing, 
our  spirits  are  good,  and  the  view  becomes  at  every  step 
more  entrancing.  As  we  look  back  we  see  the  fertile  plain 
of  Adana  stretched  before  us,  and  beyond  the  snow-capped 
mountains  of  Lebanon,  while  before  us,  rising  peak  on  peak, 
are  the  magnificent  heights  of  the  Taurus.  There  are  few 
more  mao^nificent  mountain  ranges  in  the  world  and  few  are 


528  A   COUNTRY   OF   WONDERFUL  INTEREST. 

less  frequently  visited  in  these  days  than  tliis  mighty  range 
which  forms  the  backbone  of  Asia  Minor. 

In  ancient  times,  to  be  sm'e,  it  was  different.  The  com- 
merce of  a  good  part  of  the  world  pom^ed  througli  these 
rocky  defiles,  and  the  Cilician  Gate  through  which  we  shall 
soon  pass,  was  the  highway  for  innumerable  caravans  of 
costly  goods,  for  armies,  and  for  travelers  of  all  degrees  and 
conditions  in  life. 

Across  these  mountains  traveled  the  Apostle  Paul  more 
than  once.  This  same  way  came  Cicero  and  other  Eoman 
statesmen  scarcely  less  distinguished,  while  the  armies  of 
emperors  frequently  defiled  through  these  narrow  gorges. 

We  are  not  only  in  a  country  of  surpassing  natural  beauty 
but  one  of  wonderful  historic  interest.  These  craggy  peaks 
and  hilltops,  if  they  could  speak,  would  a  tale  unfold  of  wars 
and  rumors  of  wars,  of  civilization  advancing  and  retrograd- 
ing, of  nations  waxing  and  waning,  of  armies  marching  and 
countermarching,  which  could  not  be  told  by  any  other 
mountain  peaks  in  the  world.  In  these  silent  fields  and  be- 
neath these  occasional  ruins  are,  doubtless,  buried  historical 
treasures  of  the  rarest  and  most  unique  interest.  But  the 
oppressive  government  regulations  make  it  impossible  for 
any  archaeologist  to  dig  for  hidden  treasure,  and,  while  the 
present  regime  lasts,  the  world  will  be  none  the  wiser  con- 
cerning these  relics  of  the  past. 

The  fellow  travelers  whom  Ave  meet  or  pass  on  the  road 
are  all  of  one  description ;  no  hacks  or  four-in-hand  turn- 
outs do  we  see,  no  tally-ho  coaches  or  gigs  or  buggies,  no 
bicycles  or  tricycles,  no  phaetons  or  landaus,  not  even  a 
baby  carriage  or  anything  else  on  wheels,  do  we  meet,  but 
long  processions  of  knock-kneed,  ragged  camels,  carr^^ng, 
strapped  to  their  patient  backs,  and  dangling  on  either  side, 
a  heavy  load  of  some  five  or  six  hundred  pounds  in  weight, 


CARAVANS   OF  KNOCK-KNEED   CAMELS. 


529 


which,  for  many  weary  days,  they  must  bear  as  they  go 
swaying  and  stumbling  across  the  country  from  sea  to  sea. 

These  camels  are  very  rarely  met  with  singly,  but  usu- 
ally in  caravans  of  from  ten  to  one  hundred,  loosely  tied 
together  by  a  string  or  small  rope  which  can  easily  be 
broken,  so  that  in  case  one  of  the  camels  wanders  out  of  the 


%vC'/^,^.  .^' 


^-^J^ 


^"    ^        -tC 


^^■w^ 

_^^^ 


A   SHIP  OF   THE   DESERT. 


line  or  falls  over  a  precipice,  the  whole  caravan  may  not  go 
with  him. 

Usually  preceding  the  camels  and  leading  the  whole  train 
by  a  chain  attached  to  his  bridle,  is  an  absurdly  diminutive 
donkey  on  whose  back  is  often  perched  a  very  large  Turk, 
whose  huge  feet  (they  all  seem  to  wear  number  eighteen  in 
this  country)  swav  back  and  forth  and  diff  viciously  into  the 
sides  of  the  little  beast  with  every  step  he  takes. 

One  is  never  tired  of  these  strange  processions  of  men  and 

32 


530  TURKISH   GREETINGS. 

variously  assorted  beasts.  It  always  seems  to  us  as  if  the 
huge  camel  Avoukl  be  ashamed  of  the  long-eared  little  guide 
which  leads  the  way,  and  as  though  the  look  of  supercilious 
scorn  which  he  always  wears,  was  assumed  to  show  his  in- 
difference  to  the  indignities  that  are  heaped  upon  him. 

Our  fellow  travelers,  however,  we  find  are  by  no  means 
destitute  of  politeness  or  cordiality.  In  fact,  they  could  give 
many  points  to  the  boors  of  our  crowded  modern  thorough- 
fares in  the  way  of  gentle  courtesy  on  the  road.  Almost 
every  camel  driver  and  donkey  boy  whom  we  pass  makes  a 
kindly  bow  to  us,  and  cries  out  as  we  get  within  earshot, 
''  Oughourlar  olsoun,"  which  means  when  translated,  ''  A 
pleasant  journey  to  you."  If  we  are  sufficiently  up  in  our 
Turkish  to  respond  in  a  proper  manner,  we  shall  reply  to 
him,  *'  Sagh  olsoun,"  whereby  we  mean  to  say,  "  Long  life  to 
you  my  friend." 

These  greetings  which  one  receives  upon  the  way  in 
Turkey,  and  in  every  house  which  he  enters,  at  every  table 
at  which  he  sits,  and  on  all  possible  occasions,  are  exceed- 
ingly pleasant  and  show  an  inbred  courtesy  which  speaks 
well  for  the  fundamental  character  of  the  race  which  has 
coined  and  adopted  them  as  a  part  of  its  common  verbal  cur- 
rency. For  instance,  when  we  enter  a  Turkish  house  we  are 
often  greeted  by  this  kindly  phrase,  "Khouda  el  inden 
yapusha,"  which,  being  interpreted,  means,  "May  the 
Almighty  cling  to  your  hand,"  a  most  beautiful  way  of  ex- 
pressing greeting  and  good  will  and  continued  blessing. 
The  response  very  often  is,  "  Akubetin  Khair  olsoun,"  which 
means,  "  May  your  end  be  good,"  or,  in  other  words,  as 
every  Mohammedan  interprets  it  in  his  own  mind,  "May 
you  become  a  good  Moslem  before  you  die."  When  one 
rises  from  the  table  where  he  has  partaken  of  all  the  good 
things  which  his  host  can  offer,  if  he  is  versed  in  Turkish 


ORIENTAL  POLITENESS. 


531 


politeness  he  will  say,  "  Bereket  versin,"  "  Let  it  give  a  bless- 


in  o* 


?? 


"When  we  receive  a  present,  however  slight  it  may  be,  the 
recipient  says,  "  Elenize  clagh  luk"  which  is  not  our  meagre, 
conventional  "  Thank  you,"  but  is  a  poetic  expression  mean- 
ing, "  Health  to  your  hands,  my  dear  sir," 

For  special  and  peculiar  services  there  are  special  and  pe- 
culiar expressions  of  appreciation  and  thanks,  and  not  one 


■rs-ji  C'^*i''-i-.isf'i 


NATIVE   KHURDS  OF   ASIA  MINOR. 


unvarying  meaningless  formula,  as  in  "Western  languages. 
For  instance,  when  a  Turk  receives  a  drink  from  a  friend  of 
anything  but  coffee,  he  remarks  as  he  hands  back  the  empty 
cup,  "  Afiyet  olsoun,"  by  which  he  means  to  say,  "  May  it  be 
for  your  health."  "Why  he  does  not  make  this  same  response 
when  treated  to  coffee  I  have  never  yet  been  able  to  under- 
stand. 

Even  the  wooden  spoons  with  which  we  dip  into  the  com- 
mon bowl  Avhich  always  graces  the  center  of  the  Turkish 
dinner  table,  are  decorated  with  a  motto  of  hospitality  and 


532  '  A  GOOD   STORY. 

good  cheer,  such  as,  "Eat,  my  friend,  eat,"  or  "Pardon  our 
poor  fare  and  call  it  not  entirely  tasteless."  Or,  perhaps  it 
may  be,  "  Consider  not  the  poor  food  which  is  set  before 
you,  but  the  spirit  in  which  it  is  given." 

As  we  journey  along,  we  frequently  see  by  the  roadside 
a  scrubby  tree,  from  every  branch  and  twig  of  which  flut- 
ters a  rag.  Some  of  the  rags  are  bleached  and  weather- 
beaten,  and  have  evidently  been  tied  to  the  tree  for  many  a 
long  day,  w^hile  others  look  as  though  they  had  been  just 
attached.  These  trees  mark  the  sacred  spot  where  the  grave 
of  some  holy  man  is  supposed  to  be,  and  every  pilgrim  who 
passes  that  way  ties  a  new  rag  to  the  tree  to  propitiate  the 
saint  bm'ied  beneath,  and  to  insure  for  himself  a  speedier 
entrance  into  heaven. 

The  old  dervishes  frequently  make  a  very  good  living  by 
establishing  themselves  near  one  of  these  trees,  and  asking 
alms  of  all  who  pass  by. 

A  good  story  is  told  of  a  poor  old  dervish  w^ho  lost  all 
his  w^orldly  goods,  and  set  out  on  a  new  pilgrimage  with  his 
familv  and  his  faithful  donkev.     For  a  time  they  lived  in 
great  poverty,  but  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  a  new-made 
grave  under  a  spreading  tree  by  which  the  dervish  had  en- 
camped, obtained  a  great  reputation  for  sanctity.      Many  ^ 
were  the  pilgrims  Avho  resorted  hither.     Many  were  the  dis-          \ 
eases  that  were  healed,  and  the  good  fortunes  that  Avere  told          , 
beside  that  holy  grave.     The  tree  became  decorated  Avith  all  ■ 
sorts  and  sizes  and  colors  of  rags,  for  most  of  the  pilgrims          I 
Avho  pass  that  Avay  are  clad  in  an  abundant  su2)i3ly  of  tat- 
tered and  filthy  garments.     The  old  dervish  became  pros- 
perous and  Avaxed  fat,  but  after  a  Avhile  his  son  became  un- 
easy and   dissatisfied  AA^ith  the  Avay  he  Avas  living,  so  he 
started  out  for  himself  to  make  his  OAvn  fortune  in  the  Avorld. 
Thinking  there  Avas  no  easier  w^ay  than  that  Avhich  his  father 


EMBLEMS  OF  GOOD  LUCK.  533 

had  pointed  out,  he  established  a  holy  place  of  his  o^vn  not 
far  off,  and  seated  himself  by  another  grave  under  another 
green  tree. 

So  popular  did  this  new  resort  become  that  the  old 
dervish's  popularity  began  to  wane,  so  he  went  to  visit  his 
son,  and,  when  he  found  him,  he  asked  him  the  cause  of  his 
sudden  popularity.  "  Well,"  said  the  youth  who  had  bettered 
his  father's  instructions,  "  you  tell  me  who  is  buried  in  your 
holy  grave  and  I  will  tell  you  who  is  buried  in  mine."  "  My 
old  donkey  died,"  frankly  confessed  the  father.  "  I  mourned 
over  her  and  buried  her  under  the  green  tree.  People  came 
to  worship  at  the  new-made  grave,  and  it  was  not  my  busi- 
ness to  tell  them  who  was  buried  there  since  they  received 
so  much  benefit  from  their  pilgrimage.  And  now  tell  me, 
my  son,  who  occupies  the  grave  over  which  you  keep  watch  ? " 
"  Ah,"  answered  the  chip  of  the  old  block,  "  I  followed  your 
example,  and  in  my  grave  is  buried  the  foal  of  your  ass." 

This  story,  which  is  told  with  great  gusto  in  different 
parts  of  Turkey  just  as  the  tales  accredited  to  Abraham 
Lincoln  are  heard  in  all  parts  of  America,  illustrates  the 
superstitious  ignorance  of  the  common  people.  In  a  hundred 
other  ways  are  these  superstitions  manifest.  Every  camel 
and  donkey  that  we  meet  has  upon  his  neck  a  string  of  blue 
glass  beads,  which  are  supposed  to  keep  off  the  "  evil  eye," 
and  no  camel  driver  would  think  for  a  moment  of  leaving 
home  without  decorating  every  animal  in  his  caravan  with 
these  emblems  of  good  luck. 

Yery  often  mothers  are  seen  slapj^ing  their  children  in  a 
most  vicious  way,  and  calling  them  "ugly  brutes,"  and 
"dirty  brats,"  and  all  kinds  of  opprobrious  names.  We 
soon  find,  however,  that  this  shows  no  lack  of  maternal 
affection,  but  is  simply  the  mother's  way  of  warding  off  evil 
and  blight  from  the  child.     She  thinks  that  if  the  evil  spirits 


534 


INDIGNITIES   BORNE   BY   TURKISH   WOMEN. 


hear  her  disparage  her  child  and  call  him  an  "  ugly  brute," 
they  will  not  think  it  worth  while  to  trouble  him,  and  so  the 
evil  eye  will  be  averted. 

But,  at  the  best,  women  and  children  in  this  land,  as  in 
all  heathen  and  semi-heathen  lands,  have  a  hard  time.     The 

women  are  looked  upon  as 
beasts  of  burden.  Doubt  is  of- 
ten expressed  as  to  whether  or 
not  they  really  have  souls,  and 
even  bv  the  most  enlightened 
Turk  their  souls  are  not  sup- 
posed to  be  of  the  same  dimen- 
sions as  those  of  their  husbands 
and  brothers  and  sons.  Ko  ac- 
count is  taken  of  the  girls  by 
many  men  when  they  reckon 
up  their  families,  and  the  mise- 
ries of  a  bride  in  a  Turkish 
house  are  often  unutterable. 
Abused  and  despised,  beaten 
and  forsaken,  with  no  redress 
and  no  opportunity  to  tell  her 
woes,  she  can  only  gain  com- 
fort from  the  thought  that  some- 
time she  will  be  a  mother-in- 
law  herself,  and  can  take  it 
out  in  abusing  her  daughter- 
in-law  to  her  heart's  content,  just  as  freshmen,  when  they  are 
harrowed  and  hazed,  put  under  the  pump,  and  initiated  into 
the  horrors  of  the  secret  society,  comfort  themselves  with  the 
thought  that  next  year  they  will  be  sophomores,  and  there 
will  be  another  class  of  freshmen  for  them  to  haze. 

It  must  not  be  thought  that  we  make  any  remarkable 


A   SYRIAN   POULTRY   SELLER. 


IN  A   TURKISH   GRAVE-YARD.  535 

speed  in  this  journey  across  the  Taurus  mountains.  AVe  are 
not  trying  to  solve  the  problem  of  rapid  transit,  and  an 
average  of  three  miles  an  hour,  and  of  from  thirty  to  thirty- 
five  miles  a  day  we  consider  very  good  traveling. 

The  first  day  out  from  Tarsus  we  stopped  at  a  place 
which  rejoiced  in  the  euphonious  name  of  "  Grave  Yard 
Spout,"  and,  in  spite  of  its  name,  it  was  one  of  the  pleasantest 
places  where  we  made  our  camp  in  all  the  journey. 

Let  me  introduce  you  to  this  typical  Turkish  khan  at 
"  Grave  Yard  Spout."  We  have  not  yet  reached  the  old 
Cilician  Gates,  but  have  been  climbing  the  slopes  of  the 
Taurus  mountains  all  day  long,  and  by  nightfall  are  well  up 
toward  the  line  of  everlasting  snow.  From  these  limitless 
snow  fields  the  brooks  of  sparkling  water  come  dancing 
down.  Their  narrovT  channels  down  the  steep  mountain 
sides  have  something  the  appearance  of  eaves-troughs  on  a 
house,  hence  the  "  spout."  On  one  side  of  the  hill  where  we 
are  to  spend  the  night  are  a  number  of  Turkish  graves  with 
rude,  unhewn  stones  set  up  to  mark  the  last  resting  place  of 
the  Moslem,  hence  the  "  grave-yard."  A  low,  stone  building 
on  one  side  of  the  road,  mostly  buried  out  of  sight  on  its 
lower  side  b\^  huge  piles  of  rubbish  and  manure,  indicates 
the  spot  where  we  are  to  spend  the  night.  Into  the  open 
doorway  camels  and  donkeys,  horses,  drivers,  and  pilgrims 
all  enter,  for  the  Turk  believes  that  what  is  good  enough  for 
his  beast  is  good  enough  for  him,  and  he  never  begrudges 
his  own  quarters  to  his  patient  camel  or  faithful  ass. 

However,  there  is  one  room  divided  by  a  slight  board 
partition  from  the  rest  of  the  khan,  and  into  this  the  more 
fastidious  pilgrims  are  allowed  to  go  to  spend  the  night.  To 
be  sure,  it  is  a  filthy  place  almost  beyond  description,  and 
swarming  with  vermin.  It  has  not  been  washed  since  the 
day  the  khan  was  built,  and,  perhaps,  has  not  been  swept  out 


536  ROUGHING    IT,      , 

for  a  year.  But  it  is  the  best  place  which  the  region  affords, 
and  we  will  not  grumble.  Besides,  have  we  not  cot  beds 
which  can  be  set  up  out  of  the  way  of  the  dirt  and  largely 
out  of  the  way  of  the  fleas  as  well?  Have  we  not  clean 
sheets  and  bedspreads,  and  a  good  supply  of  wholesome 
provisions  of  our  own  ?  Then  what  more  can  w^e  ask,  with 
fresh  and  invigorating  mountain  air  to  breathe,  sparkling 
cold  water  in  which  to  bathe,  and  all  out-doors  in  which  to 
exercise  ?  Appetite  lends  a  splendid  sauce  to  every  meal, 
and  this  bread  and  cheese,  these  eggs  which  Ali  boils  in  the 
fireplace,  and  the  pilaff  which  he  concocts  with  rice  and 
other  ingredients,  though  mysterious,  are  most  toothsome 
and  nourishing.  So  we  eat  our  evening  meal,  say  our  even- 
ing prayer  of  thanksgiving  and  petition  for  protection,  and 
lie  down  to  pleasanter  dreams  than  any  surfeited  millionaire 
ever  enjoyed. 

In  the  morning  we  are  up  betimes,  sometimes  long  before 
daylight,  for  the  success  of  the  day's  journey  depends  upon 
getting  a  good  start.  By  the  light  of  the  gray  dawn  we 
drink  our  morning  coffee,  tie  up  our  beds  and  bedding,  pack 
the  wagons,  harness  the  horses,  and  are  off  just  as  the  rising 
sun  illuminates  the  frosty  mountain  peaks,  and  turns  the 
descending  rivulets  into  ropes  of  sparkling  diamonds. 

Al^out  noon  we  stop  for  a  hasty  midday  meal,  and  then 
press  on  again  in  order  to  reach  the  khan  where  we  are  to 
spend  the  night  before  sundown,  where  the  same  process  of 
unpacking  and  setting  up  the  beds,  getting  supper  and  eat- 
ing it,  going  to  bed  and  getting  up  in  the  morning,  repack- 
ing and  starting  on  our  journey,  is  repeated  day  after  day 
until  the  journey  ends. 

The  second  day  out  we  came  to  the  Cilician  Gates, 
and  here  culminates  the  magnificent  scenery  which  has 
been  growing  grander  and  grander  with  every  passing  mile. 


THROUGH   THE   CILICIAN  GATES.  537 

Here  is  a  narrow  gorge  between  two  towering  ])recipitous 
cliffs  which  stretch  up,  up,  up,  for  hundreds  of  feet  above  us 
on  either  side.  There  is  absolutely  no  other  way  of  crossing 
the  mountain  except  at  this  point.  Here,  beyond  a  question, 
we  are  on  historic  ground.  Paul  must  have  come  through 
this  very  gorge  in  the  mountains.  This  old  Roman  road 
over  which  we  are  traveling  was  here  in  his  time,  probably  a 
far  better  road  than  it  is  to-day ;  this  soil  and  these  stones 
his  feet  must  have  pressed,  and  for  the  monarchs  and  am- 
bassadors, the  conquered  and  conquering  armies,  the  mer- 
chants and  the  diplomats  of  many  centuries,  this  has  been 
the  highway. 

Just  as  we  went  through  the  Cilician  Gates,  where  the 
pathway  is  most  narrow  and  precipitous,  for  a  rushing  tor- 
rent disputes  the  roadway  for  passage,  we  met  a  long  train 
of  at  least  a  hundred  camels,  floundering  over  the  rugged 
road  and  through  the  muddy  slough.  It  seemed  as  though 
our  wagon  could  never  make  its  way  past  these  "  ships  of 
the  desert,"  but  we  had  learned  by  this  time  to  have  un- 
bounded faith  in  our  missionary  guide,  and,  sure  enough, 
without  accident  or  serious  delay  we  forded  the  stream, 
wallowed  through  the  mire,  climbed  the  banks,  brushed  the 
flanks  of  the  startled  camels,  and  at  length  were  through  the 
historic  mountain  gorge,  and  had  passed  out  of  old  Cihcia 
into  Cappadocia. 

The  third  day  out  from  Tarsus  was  the  most  exciting 
and  dangerous  part  of  the  journey.  For  a  little  ways  after 
we  left  the  khan,  where  we  spent  the  night,  a  good  road  en- 
abled us  to  get  on  at  a  brisk  pace  and  cheered  us  with  the 
illusive  hope  that  our  worst  difficulties  were  over ;  but  alas ! 
this  piece  of  good  road  was  only  the  pleasant  prelude  to  the 
very  worst  piece  of  roadway  to  be  found  in  any  one  of  the 
five  continents  which  we  are  visiting.     For  five  miles  this 


538  AN  EXCITING  AND   DANGEROUS  RIDE. 

road  is  simply  indescribable.  Xo  one  who  has  made  this 
journey  could  possibly  believe  that  a  wagon  could  ever  be 
transported  over  it,  or  that  horses  or  drivers  could  live  to  tell 
the  tale  on  the  other  side  of  "the  bad  place,"  as  it  is  signifi- 
cantly called  by  all  in  this  region. 

In  fact,  there  is  no  road  at  all.  The  government  has  not 
even  ])retended  to  make  a  road  here  as  it  has  in  some  places. 
It  does  not  degenerate  into  a  squirrel  track  and  run  up  a 
tree,  simply  because  there  is  no  tree  for  it  to  run  up,  for  the 
country  is  as  bare  as  the  desert  of  Sahara,  This  bad  five 
miles  takes  us  over  the  very  peak  of  the  Taurus  mountains, 
and  the  only  animals  which  with  any  degree  of  safety  can 
make  this  journey  are  the  sure-footed  camels  and  donkeys 
who  monopolize  the  trade  of  this  district.  Even  they  some- 
times lose  their  footing  and  roll  down  the  steep  mountain- 
side into  the  abyss  below,  where  we  saw  the  carcass  of  more 
than  one  animal  which  had  thus  met  its  death. 

In  the  course  of  the  centuries  the  unceasing  caravans  of 
camels  have  made  a  track  along  which,  with  careful  steering 
and  with  abundant  providential  care,  a  wagon  can  sometimes 
make  its  way.  "We  know  this  because  we  have  seen  a 
wagon  go  over  this  trail.  On  no  account  could  we  other- 
wise have  believed  it  possible,  but  seeing  is  believing  in  the 
Taurus  mountains  as  well  as  everywhere  else. 

"When  we  went  down  the  hill  on  the  other  side  of  the 
"bad  five  miles,"  all  the  male  members  of  the  party  hung  on 
to  the  tail-board  of  the  wagon  to  prevent  it  from  tumbling 
end  over  end  over  the  heads  of  the  horses.  Sometimes  the 
rickety  wagon  would  sway  perilously  on  the  verge  of  a 
rocky  precipice.  Often  we  would  think  that  it  was  actually 
going  over,  and  would  catch  our  breath  as  we  expected  to 
see  wagon,  horses,  and  driver  tumble  into  the  terrible  abyss. 
Then  the  driver  would  throw  himself  from  side  to  side  of  the 


AN  EXCITING  MOMENT- OUR  RIDE  ACROSS  TURKEY  IN  A  WAGON. 

Sometimes  the  rickety  wagon  would  B\va,v  perilously  on  the  verge  of  a  rocky  precipice. 
Often  we  would  think  that  it  was  actually  going  over,  and  would  catch  our  breath  as  we 
expected  to  see  wagon,  horses,  and  driver  tumble  into  the  terrible  abyss.  Then  the  driver 
would  throw  himself  from  side  to  side  of  the  wagon  to  keep  it  from  toppling  over,  and  the 
rest  of  us  would  throw  our  weight  on  that  side  to  prevent  the  threatened  catastrophe. 


ON   THE  VERGE   OF   DESTRUCTION.  541 

wagon  to  keep  it  from  toppling  over,  and  the  rest  of  iis 
would  throw  our  weight  on  that  side  to  prevent  the  threat- 
ened catastrophe.  Thus  we  made  our  way  down  the  peril- 
ous mountain  side  and  drew  a  long  breath  Avhen  we  found 
we  were  in  the  valley  and  realized  that  the  worst  of  our 
journey  was  behind  us. 

To  be  sure,  it  was  only  comparatively  speaking  that  we 
could  find  any  betterment  in  the  road  as  we  went  farther  on, 
for  oftentimes,  sometimes  twenty  times  a  day,  Ave  were 
obliged  to  get  out  of  the  wagon  when  the  careful  driver 
took  it  around  some  narrow,  precipitous  cavern,  or  drove 
over  a  heap  of  stones  and  boulders  which  had  slid  down 
from  the  mountain  side,  or  forded  a  shallow  stream  which 
sometimes  almost  carried  the  horses  off  their  feet.  Forty 
times  a  day  we  would  throw  our  weight  on  the  up-hill  side 
to  prevent  the  wagon  from  going  over  the  bank,  or  stand  on 
the  step  for  half  a  mile  at  a  time  to  counterbalance  in  some 
degree  the  attractions  of  gravitation  on  the  other  side. 

But  after  passing  this  last  spur  of  the  Taurus  mountains 
we  never  thought  of  complaining  of  any  piece  of  road, 
nor  do  we  ever  expect  to  complain  again,  whatever  highways 
fate  may  have  in  store  for  us.  Toward  dark  of  the  fourth 
day  out  from  Tarsus,  we  came  to  the  little  village  Baila, 
and  as  the  khan  was  full  of  other  guests  we  sought  for 
shelter  in  the  guest-room  of  Selim,  the  elder  and  priest  of  the 
village.  Let  not  the  idea  of  a  "guest-room,"  my  readers, 
call  up  any  luxurious  notions  of  downy  beds  and  costly  car- 
pets and  furniture,  for  though  this  guest-room  was  the  best 
the  village  afforded,  there  is  no  New  England  cellar  or 
Yankee  coal  bin  which  it  was  ever  our  fortune  to  inspect, 
that  we  should  not  have  preferred  to  occupy. 

Fortunately  the  room  is  dark,  and  the  narrow  slits 
which  serve  as  windows  are  covered  with  newspapers  which 


543  A   FILTHY   AND   HORRIBLE   PLACE. 

are  pasted  over  them,  so  that  we  cannot  see  the  filthiness  of 
the  place  m.  all  its  hideousness.  AVe  do  not  wish  for  more 
light,  and  after  getting  supper  and  setting  up  our  beds  we 
turn  in,  to  sleep  the  sleep  of  the  weary. 

This  typical  Turkish  village  where  we  have  come  to 
spend  the  night  is  like  hundreds  and  thousands  of  others 
scattered  all  over  the  Empu'e.  Perhaps  there  are  two  hun- 
dred people  within  its  borders,  crowded  together  in  little 
huts  of  stone,  which  are  but  little  higher  than  a  tall  man. 
The  roofs  are  flat  and  covered  with  dirt,  which  does  very 
well  as  a  roofing  in  dry  weather,  but  becomes  very  filthy 
and  leaky  when  a  wet  season  sets  in. 

There  are  no  streets  in  the  village  except  such  as  are 
made  by  the  pathways  between  the  houses,  and  these  path- 
ways are  often  full  of  pitfalls  into  which  the  unwary  traveler 
will  stumble  if  he  is  not  careful.  In  these  pits  are  stored  in 
winter  the  hay  on  which  the  goats  and  cattle  live  during  the 
cold  weather.  In  the  springtime  they  are  mostly  empty,  for 
the  store  has  been  exhausted,  and  very  frequently  at  the 
bottom  of  them  I  saw  dead  goats  and  sheep,  which  during 
the  early  spring  had  probably  starved  to  death  and  which 
the  unenterprising  inhabitants  had  not  even  carried  out  of 
the  roadway,  but  had  left  to  rot  and  pollute  the  air,  and 
breed  pestilence  and  disease  in  their  very  streets. 

Could  anything  be  more  depressing  than  life  in  these 
wretched  villages?  Here  are  no  books,  no  newspapers,  no 
meetings,  no  intellectual  life  of  any  kind.  Few  of  the 
houses  show  any  light  through  their  paper  windows  after 
darkness  sets  in.  The  inhabitants  have  nothing  to  do  but 
to  herd  their  goats  all  day  and  go  to  bed  when  darkness 
comes.  ISTo  wonder  that  the  people  grow  up  ignorant  and 
debased  and  absolutely  devoid  of  ambition.  The  only 
wonder  is  that  they  are  not  more  vicious  than  they  are,  and 


AN  IGNORANT  AND  DEBASED  PEOPLE. 


543 


that  after  these  centuries  of  intellectual  torpidity  and  gov- 
ernmental oppression  there  is  anything  of  manliness  to 
appeal  to  in  their  natures. 

And  yet,  that  there  is  a  natural  substratum  of  generosity 
and  nobility  in  the  Turkish  character  cannot  be  denied.  It 
can  be  accounted  for  very  largely,  I  think,  by  the  good 


MUSSULMAN  AT  PRAYER. 


features  of  their  religion,  for,  mixed  with  superstition  and 
imposture  as  the  faith  of  Mohammed  is,  there  is  something 
in  it  of  strength  and  virility.  It  demands  unquestioning 
obedience  and  outspoken  allegiance  from  all  who  profess  to 
be  governed  by  it.  No  Mohammedan  is  ashamed  of  his 
faith.  Our  soldier  guard,  who  always  accompanies  us,  when 
the  hour  of  prayer  comes  will  dismount  from  his  horse  and 
prostrate  himself   towards  Mecca,  by  the  roadside,  or  will 


544 


DEVOUT  MOHAMMEDANS. 


even  go  to  the  top  of  the  house  to  pray  when  we  are  resting 
at  noon,  no  matter  how  many  pairs  of  curious  eyes  are  upon 
him.  Many  and  many  a  time  have  I  seen  a  camel  driver, 
poor,  untutored  man  that  he  is,  but  confident  of  his  faith  in 
God  and  in  the  great  prophet,  kneeling  in  the  grass  by  the 
wayside,  while  his  tethered  camels  browse  near  by,  offering 

his  prayer  to  the  great  God, 
with  no  fear  of  ridicule  to  re- 
strain him  from  his  oft-repeated 
devotion. 

As  we  lie  down  to  rest  in 
the  guest  chamber  of  the  elder 
of  Baila  we  hear  the  musical 
voice  of  the  muezzin  floating 
from  the  humble  minaret  near 
bv,  calling  out  to  all  the  faith- 
f  ul,  "  God  is  great,  God  is  great. 
There  is  one  God  and  Moham- 
j'T^^ll^imed   is  his  prophet.     Come  to 


prayer,  come  to  prayer." 

As  these  sounds  strike  our 
drowsy  ears  we  learn  the  secret 
of  the  vitality  of  the  Turkish, 
nation  and  the  Mohammedan  religion.  There  is  truth 
enough  in  it  to  keep  it  sweet  and  from  going  to  utter  decay. 
There  is  truth  enough  within  it  to  maintain  in  the  nation 
the  germs  of  a  resolute,  uncompromising  manhood,  and,  as 
we  drop  off  into  the  land  of  Nod,  a  new  hope  springs  up 
in  our  hearts  for  Turkey  and  the  Turks,  as  the  cry  of  the 
dervish  mingles  with  our  dreams,  "God  is  great,  God  is 
great.     Come  to  prayer,  come  to  prayer." 


THE   CALL   OF   THE   MUEZZES'. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

ON  TO  THE  GOLDEN  HORN  — COXTIXUATIOX  OF  OUR  JOUR- 
NEY IN  A  WAGON  — WHIRLING  AND  HOWLING  DER- 
VISHES—VEILED   WOMEN  OF  TURKEY. 

Watched  by  a  Curious  Crowd  —  A  Broken-Hearted  Wife  —  The  Lamp- 
Dealer's  Suspicious  Balls — A  Genuine  Turkish  Bath  —  The  Feast  of 
Ramidan  —  Waking  Up  to  Eat  —  The  Difference  Between  a  Black 
Thread  and  a  White — Cross  Officials  —  A  Picked  and  Singed  Turkey 

—  Carving  Up  Turkey  —  Angora  Cats  and  Angora  Goats  —  Tying  Up 
a  Railway  Train  —  Drawing  Near  to  Constantinople  —  A  Famous 
College  —  St.  Sophia,  the  3Iarvelous — In  the  Hands  of  the  Vandals 

—  The  Covered  Face  —  The  Bloody  Hand  of  the  Conqueror  —  The 
"Sweating  Column"  —  The  Whirling  Dervishes  —  How  They  Whirl  — 
Treading  on  the  Babies  —  A  Strange  Ceremony  —  How  the  Sultan  Goes 
to  Mosque — Sanding  the  Road — A  Mean-Faced  Monarch — The  Sultan's 
Wives  and  Daughters  —  A  Timid  Tyrant  —  Rich  Stores  of  Costly 
Jewels  —  Beautiful  Broussa  —  Tomb  of  Othman  the  Great. 


|()E.  thirteen  days  our  journey  across 
Asia  Minor  was,  with  certain  vari- 
ations, a  repetition  of  the  days  I 
have  ah^eady  described.  An  early 
start,  a  long  ride  of  ten  or  twelve 
hours,  a  hasty  midday  meal  often 
eaten  in  the  wagon,  and,  about 
night-fall,  a  new  setting-up  of  our 
movable  household  gods  m  still 
another  Turkish  khan  which 
always  seemed  a  shade  dirtier  and 
a  trifle  more  full  of  the  concen- 
trated essence  of  unpleasant  odors  than  the  last  one. 

There  were,   however,   some    noticeable   breaks    in    our 
journey  which  must  not  be  passed  over  in  silence.     On  the 

fourth  day,  after  passing  over  an  immense  plain,  guarded  on 

(545) 


546  WATCHED   BY   A   CURIOUS   CROWD. 

all  sides  by  snow-capped  mountains,  we  came  to  the  ancient 
city  of  Tyana,  which,  in  former  centuries,  was  a  most  nota- 
ble place.  Here  a  fine  old  Roman  aqueduct  brought  deli- 
cious, sparkling  water  from  the  hills  far  away.  Many  of  its 
arches  are  standing  still,  as  fine  in  their  ruined  magnificence 
as  the  aqueducts  about  Rome  itself.  Under  the  shadow  of 
these  broken  arches  with  their  beautiful  columns  and  carved 
capitals  we  ate  our  lunch,  surrounded  by  a  curious,  open- 
eyed  throng  of  modern  Tyanites,  who,  to-day,  very  rarely 
see  a  stranger  from  the  outside  world,  famous  and  much- 
visited  as  their  city  used  to  be  in  ancient  days. 

Three  hours  beyond  Tyana  we  came  to  Nigde,  a  tliriving 
town  of  several  thousand  inhabitants.  Here,  manv  of  the 
houses  are  of  two  stories,  and  have  glass  in  their  windows, 
and  here  it  was  our  good  fortune  to  rest  during  the  Lord's 
Day  in  the  house  of  the  Protestant  pastor  of  the  town. 

Here,  too,  we  had  a  new  illustration  of  the  aw^ful  tyranny 
under  which  tlie  subject  races  of  Turkey  live.  No  sooner 
had  Ave  gone  into  the  house  than  a  poor  broken-hearted 
woman  came  to  see  the  missionary  who  accompanied  us,  to 
tell  him  that  her  husband,  the  pastor  of  a  native  Protestant 
church,  had  suddenly  disappeared  while  on  his  way  to  the 
village  where  his  church  was  situated,  No  one  knew  any- 
thing about  him  from  that  sad  day,  though  it  was  suspected 
that  he  had  been  arrested  and  imprisoned,  and  perhaps 
murdered  for  supposed  complicity  with  the  Armenian  upris- 
ing. Of  his  innocence  his  poor  wife  was  well  assured,  but 
for  three  months  she  had  been  Avaiting  and  hoping  against 
hope,  telling  her  little  child  that  every  footstep  might  be  the 
long-lost  father.  But  noAV  she  had  almost  given  up  in  de- 
spair, and  Avith  streaming  eyes  came  to  ask  us  if  something 
could  not  be  done  to  end  her  dreadful  uncertainty  as  to 
Avhether  her  husband  AA^as  alive  or  dead. 


SOME   MYSTERIOUS   LAMPS.  547 

To  offset  this  pathetic  incident  of  ISTigde,  a  rather  amus- 
ing story  was  told  us  by  one  of  the  merchants  of  the  place  to 
the  effect  that  one  of  his  fellow  shopkeepers  had  been  a  few 
weeks  before  arrested  and  imprisoned  on  some  mysterious 
charge,  whose  nature  neither  he  nor  his  neighbors  could 
exactly  determine.  After  a  few  Aveeks,  however,  he  was 
released,  and  it  was  learned  that  his  arrest  was  caused  by- 
some  very  innocent  lamps  which,  in  the  line  of  business,  he 
had  imported  into  Nigde.  These  lamps  had  been  meant  to 
hang  from  the  ceiling,  and,  in  order  that  they  might  be  raised 
and  lowered,  a  metal  ball  about  the  size  of  a  small  cannon 
ball  came  with  them.  These  balls  were  considered  sus^^icious 
by  the  Turkish  authorities.  It  was  thought  they  might  be 
some  terrible  dynamite  explosives  destined  to  blow  the  whole 
country  into  atoms  ;  so  the  poor  lamp-dealer  was  arrested  and 
imprisoned  Avithout  trial  until  the  case  should  be  investigated 
and  his  suspicious  balls  could  be  declared  harmless. 

In  the  middle  of  our  long  journey,  came  a  most  delight- 
ful break,  for  at  the  end  of  our  seventh  day  from  TarsuS; 
after  having  traveled  some  two  hundred  miles,  we  came  to 
the  large  Cappadocian  cit}^  of  Caesarea,  which  is  a  great  cen- 
ter not  only  of  trade  but  of  missionary  operations,  and  where 
the  good  friends  who  had  sent  one  of  their  number  for  us. 
with  their  famous  spring  wagon,  had  their  abode.  This,  too. 
was  an  important  town  in  Roman  days  and  was  named  for 
Caesar  Augustus.  Ever  since  it  has  retained  its  pre-eminence 
in  all  the  vicinity  as  a  commercial  center. 

The  country  about,  though  bare  of  trees,  is  fertile  and 
capable  of  sustaining  a  large  population.  Our  interest  in 
Caesarea  was  not  dependent  upon  beautiful  scenery  or  the  fer- 
tility of  the  soil,  but  centered  in  the  charming  American 
homes  which  are  here  established  so  far  from  their  native 
land  and  from  all  that  most  of  us  hold  dear.     Here,  for  more 

33 


548  A   DEVOTED   MISSIONARY. 

than  forty  years,  has  one  of  the  missionaries  of  the  American 
Board  been  laboring  through  good  report  and  evil  report. 
Often  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  and  always  amid  perils  and 
hardships  of  which  the  average  American  knows  very  little, 
he  has  keut  on  his  way,  winning  by  force  of  a  gentle,  digni- 
fied, and  devoted  Christian  life  the  hearts  of  hundreds  of 
people  who  are  opposed  to  his  creed,  and  who  regard  other 
Christians  as  infidel  dogs  to  be  kicked  out  of  their  country 
whenever  opportunity  affords. 

This  veteran  missionary  has  been  joined  in  later  years  by 
his  son-in-law  and  family,  and  by  one  or  two  other  mission- 
ary families,  among  them  a  most  devoted  and  skillful  doctor, 
who  would  make  his  fame  and  fortune  in  any  country  where 
he  might  choose  to  practice.  Giving  up  the  allurements  of 
professional  success  and  large  income  in  his  own  land,  he 
has  come  to  this  remote  city  where  he  can  cure  the  bodies  of 
the  Turks  and  heal  their  souls  as  he  finds  his  way  to'  their 
affections  and  confidence. 

"Wliile  we  are  here  together  we  will  look  in  upon  a 
genuine  Turkish  bath  in  the  very  center  of  Turkey.  Many 
of  my  readers  have  been  in  the  elegant  establishments  which 
abound  in  all  our  large  cities,  with  their  tiles  and  marbles, 
vaulted  ceilings  and  fountains,  plunges,  hot  rooms  and  cool- 
ing couches,  but  none  of  them,  perhaps,  have  ever  taken  a 
Turkish  bath  in  the  land  of  its  nativity.  We  will  go  to- 
gether this  evening  to  this  bath  in  Talas,  a  suburb  of 
Csesarea.  It  has  been  built  by  one  of  the  few  enterprising 
inhabitants,  who.  as  a  young  man  left  his  early  home,  be- 
came famous  in  government  circles,  made  his  fortune  in 
Constantinople,  and  instead  of  building  a  library  in  his 
native  town  as  he  would  have  done  in  America,  showed  his 
filial  affection  by  establishing  this  Turkish  bath. 

Into  a  narrow  ante-room  we  go  to  leave  our  clothes,  but 


A   GENUINE   TURKISH   BATH.  549 

instead  of  locking  up  our  valuables  in  a  fire-proof  safe,  as 
we  are  accustomed  to  do  at  home,  we  roll  our  watches, 
pocket-books,  and  other  articles  of  value  in  our  clothes,  and 
leave  this  bundle  on  the  divan  of  the  dressing-room.  Surely 
this  speaks  well  for  the  honesty  of  Turkish  human  nature. 
Then  we  put  on  some  high  wooden  clogs,  in  which  we  find  it 
very  difficult  to  shuffle  about,  and  follow  our  attendant  into 
the  hot  room.  It  is  not  very  hot,  but  by  staying  there  long 
enough  we  get  into  a  gentle  perspiration.  In  the  middle  of 
the  room  is  a  round  stone  dais  under  which  the  fire  is  built. 
Around  all  sides  of  the  room  are  faucets  of  hot  and  cold 
water  which  we  can  turn  on  at  our  pleasure,  and  on  one  side 
of  the  large  central  room  is  a  smaller  apartment  into  which 
steam  has  been  turned  and  where  we  can  obtain  a  vapor 
bath  if  so  disposed. 

For  a  little  while  I  was  alone  with  my  friend  in  this 
great,  round,  tomb-like  building,  with  the  vaulted  dome 
overhead  which  caught  up  and  sent  back  and  re-echoed  our 
words,  as  though  it  was  peopled  with  a  hundred  mocking 
spirits.  But  we  were  not  long  alone,  for,  one  after  another, 
the  natives  came  trooping  in  until  under  that  resounding 
roof  there  must  have  been  at  least  fifty  hot,  sweating,  vil- 
lainous-looking Turks.  Moreover,  they  were  in  high  spirits, 
for  it  being  the  time  of  Kamidan  their  day  of  fasting  was 
over,  and  nightfall  had  brought  the  hour  of  feasting.  They 
had  evidently  come  from  a  good  supper  and  were  full  of 
hilarity  and  glee.  Laughing  and  talking  and  yelling  at  one 
another  in  their  good  spirits,  while  the  echoing  roof  quad- 
rupled their  noise,  it  seemed  as  though  we  were  in  pande- 
monium itself.  However,  it  was  a  very  good-natured  pande- 
monium, and  we  very  soon  got  used  to  the  din.  Then  the 
shampooer  came  in  and  rubbed  us  down  and  kneaded  us 
and  punched  us  and  thumped  us  like  so  much  dough,  work- 


550  CURIOUS   CUSTOMS. 

ing  every  muscle,  pulling  out  every  finger-joint,  and  then 
sousing  us  Avitli  soap  and  hot  water  until  all  the  cuticle 
seemed  in  danger  of  coming  off.  Then  the  process  was  re- 
newed, and  after  a  little  breathing  spell  was  again  repeated. 
Then  we  were  rubbed  with  coarse  gloves,  soaped  and  washed 
and  sprayed  once  more,  and  the  process  was  declared  to  be 
complete. 

On  the  whole,  it  was  very  enjoyable,  though  I  would 
prefer  hereafter  to  take  my  Turldsh  baths  in  America  rather 
than  m  Turkev. 

I  have  said  we  were  in  C^esarea  during  the  feast  of  liam- 
idan.  A  very  notable  occasion  is  this,  corresponding  some- 
what to  the  lenten  season  of  the  Catholic  church.  It  begins 
with  the  new  moon  of  March  or  April  and  lasts  for  forty 
days.  If  it  is  cloudy  the  authorities,  curiously  enough, 
apply  to  the  heretical  missionaries,  whose  religion  they  hate, 
but  whose  astronomical  science  alone  tells  them  when  the 
new  moon  has  come. 

All  day  long  for  forty  days  the  strict  Moslem  religiously 
fasts.  From  early  dawn  until  sunset  not  a  mouthful  passes 
his  lips,  not  a  sup  moistens  his  parched  throat,  not  even  a 
whiff  from  the  inevitable  cigarette  is  allowed.  But  at  sunset 
a  great  gun  is  fired,  the  muezzin  proclaims  from  the  minaret 
that  the  sunset  hour  for  prayer  has  come.  But  he  does  not 
linger  long  about  his  call  this  time,  for  he  is  as  hungry  as 
any  of  his  devotees,  and  hastening  down  from  his  watch- 
tower,  with  all  the  other  good  Mohammedans,  he  hurries  to 
the  dinner  table  to  make  up  for  his  long  day  of  fasting. 

This  is  not  the  only  feast  of  the  night  by  any  means.  If 
the  religious  Moslem  fasts  all  day  he  makes  up  for  it  at 
night,  for  at  eleven  o'clock,  after  a  few  hours  of  sleep  has 
been  enjoyed,  a  great  beating  of  pans  and  blaring  of  tin 
horns  is  heard  and  all  the  faithful  wake  up  to  eat  once  more. 


FASTING  AND  FEASTING.  551 

Then  a  little  more  sleep,  and  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning 
another  gun  is  fired  to  waken  the  followers  of  the  prophet  to 
another  feast. 

But  when  the  first  streak  of  morning  gray  appears,  when 
the  time  comes  that  they  can  detect  "  the  difference  between 
a  black  and  white  thread,"  as  the  law  requires,  then  the 
fast  begins  again  and  not  another  mouthful  must  they  eat 
until  the  sunset  gun  is  fired.  Those  who  can  afford  the 
time  and  do  not  need  to  work,  sleep  away  as  much  of  the 
day  of  fasting  as  they  can  and  only  wake  up  in  season  for 
the  evening  feast.  We  found,  to  our  cost,  that  our  whole 
stay  in  Turkey  coincided  with  the  fast  of  Kamidan,  for  the 
officials  were  either  asleep  when  we  called  on  them  for  any 
favor,  or  so  surly  from  their  long  fasting  that  it  was  with 
difficulty  we  could  get  what  we  wanted.  But  our  precious 
"  bouyourouldou  "  which  the  governor  of  Adana  had  given 
us,  usually  overcame  even  the  crustiness  of  the  half-starved 
magnates,  and  we  suffered  but  little  detention  or  trouble  in 
our  journey. 

After  leaving  our  good  friends  in  Caesarea  our  route  lay 
along  the  northern  edge  of  Cappadocia,  then  into  Galatia, 
where  were  the  churches  to  which  Paul  wrote  his  eloquent 
epistle,  then  into  Bythinia,  which  borders  on  the  Black  sea 
and  the  Bosphorus.  ISTowhere  did  we  find  a  road  so  rough 
as  the  "  five  bad  miles,"  but  it  was  always  sufficiently  out  of 
repair  to  remind  us  that  we  were  still  in  Turkey.  Though 
the  government  levies  taxes  of  thousands  of  pounds  every 
year  upon  the  oppressed  peasantry  for  the  repair  and  main- 
tenance of  this  road,  yet  year  after  year  no  piastre  is  ex- 
pended and  no  shovel  is  lifted  to  make  the  road  better. 
Much  of  the  way  over  which  we  journeyed  lay  across  an 
elevated  table  land  where  the  scenery  was  monotonous  and 
uninteresting,  and  the  khans  where  we  spent  the  night  were 


552  CARVING   UP   TURKEY. 

very  much  like  those  with  which  we  had  previously  become 
acquainted  in  Cilicia  and  Cappadocia. 

For  days  and  days  on  this  journey  we  saw  no  trees  or 
bushes,  and  scarcely  a  shrub  as  big  as  a  lead  pencil.  This 
Turkey  has  evidently  not  only  been  picked  and  singed,  but 
even  the  pin  feathers  have  been  plucked  out  of  the  poor  car- 
cass. It  is  evident  that  when  the  poor  bird  is  roasted  in  the 
next  war,  it  will  be  in  order  for  the  European  nations  to 
carve  it  among  themselves.  The  only  thing  which  prevents 
them  from  doing  this  to-day  is,  that  each  fears  the  other 
and  that  each  wants  the  best  cuts  and  largest  slices  of  white 
meat  and  the  tender  second  joints  for  itself.  England  will 
not  let  Eussia  have  all  the  breast  and  all  the  dressing,  Eussia 
is  bound  to  keep  England  away  from  this  platter  which  it 
regards  as  altogether  its  own,  while  Germany  and  France 
each  think  that  they  have  something  to  say  in  the  matter. 

In  the  meantime,  the  old  bird  is  not  yet  carved  up  among 
the  nations,  and,  as  a  consequence,  the  people  of  Turkey 
remain  in  ignorance  and  superstition.  Christians  are  perse- 
cuted, progress  is  delayed,  inventiveness  and  enterprises  are 
checked,  and  everything  is  going  backward  in  the  land  of  the 
Sultan,  while  all  the  rest  of  the  world  is  moving  forward 
with  the  lightning  rapidity  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

"  The  United  States  has  citizens,  England  has  subjects, 
Turkey  has  abjects,"  is  a  true  and  witty  saying  which  every 
one  fully  appreciates  after  crossing  Asia  Minor. 

Six  days  after  leaving  Caesarea  we  came  to  Angora,  a 
famous  city  both  in  ancient  and  modern  times.  Here  we 
saw  many  cartloads  of  political  prisoners  who  had  just  been 
released,  going  back  to  their  homes  again.  Hundreds  of 
these  men  had  been  arrested  merely  on  suspicion,  had  been 
hurried  away  from  their  homes,  manacled  and  chained,  to 
prisons  many  days  distant  from  their  own  villages ;  and  now. 


ANGORA  AND   ITS   FAMOUS   CATS.  553 

without  trial  or  hearing,  but  apparently  at  the  caprice  of  the 
Sultan  and  the  reigning  powers  they  had  been  released, 
probably  because  His  Majest}'  fearing  to  kill  them  lest  he 
should  get  into  trouble  with  foreign  nations,  and  not  know- 
inof  what  else  to  do  with  them,  had  sent  them  home  again. 

A  few  of  their  fellows,  however,  had  been  retained  in 
prisons,  and,  at  theu*  subsequent  trial  which  took  place  at 
Angora,  seventeen  were  sentenced  to  death ;  but  when  the 
Christian  powers  remonstrated  and  suggested  that  an  iron- 
clad might  make  the  remonstrance  effectual,  the  Sultan 
yielded  the  point  and  pardoned  most  of  his  prisoners. 

Angora  is  noted  not  only  for  its  beautiful  fluffy-haired 
cats,  which  are  famous  all  the  world  over,  but  also  as  the 
seat  of  the  mohair  trade.  The  handsome  goats  which  furnish 
the  hair  dot  the  plains  on  every  side,  tens  of  thousands  of 
them,  with  their  long,  -crinkly  wool  hanging  to  the  very 
ground.  Beautiful,  gentle-faced  little  creatures  they  are,  as 
different  from  the  ordinary  vicious  goat  as  a  week-old  lamb 
is  different  from  his  ugly  progenitor. 

A  new  railroad  has  just  been  completed  from  Angora  to 
Constantinople.  It  carries  us  at  the  rate  of  eight  or  ten 
miles  an  hour.  Its  trains  do  not  run  at  night,  but  when 
darkness  comes  on  they  tie  up  wherever  they  happen  to  be, 
and  start  on  ao;ain  earlv  the  next  mornino^.  After  two  davs 
of  such  journeying,  during  which  we  make  but  a  little  over 
two  hundred  miles,  we  reach  at  last  beautiful  Constantinople, 
the  city  which  has  the  most  superb  situation  in  the  world. 

As  we  draw  near  to  this  marvelous  city,  especially  after 
spending  many  days  in  the  barren  interior,  and  amid  the 
rugged  mountains  of  Cappadocia ;  as  we  see  the  smiling  val- 
leys and  well-clothed  hilltops  that  surround  it ;  as  we  catch 
a  glimpse  of  the  Golden  Horn  and  the  silver  waves  of  the 
sparkling  Bosphorus,  we  acknowledge  that  Byron  is  quite 


554  AMERICAN    INSTITUTIONS   IN  CONSTANTINOPLE. 

right  when  he  describes  Constantinople  and  its  environs  as, 

"  The  land  of  the  cedar  and  vine, 

Where  the  flowers  ever  bloom  and  the  beams  ever  shine, 

Where  the  light  wings  of  zephyr  oppressed  with  perfume, 

Wax  faint  in  the  gardens  of  Gul  in  her  bloom. 

Where  the  citron  and  olive  are,  fairest  of  fruit. 

And  the  voice  of  the  nightingale  never  is  mute. 

Where  the  tints  of  the  earth  and  the  hue  of  the  sky, 

In  color  though  varied,  in  beauty  may  vie. 

And  the  purple  of  ocean  is  deepest  in  dye." 

It  would  take  many  a  chapter  adequately  to  describe  the 
beauties  and  wonders  of  this  imperial  city,  its  magnificent 
situation,  its  unsurpassed  mosques.  Among  them  the  famous 
Saint  Sophia,  with  its  curious  and  unending  labyrinthine 
bazaars  filled  with  rugs  and  silks,  silverware  and  bric-a-brac, 
and  everything  that  can  tempt  the  cupidity  and  unloose  the 
purse  strings  of  the  average  traveler. 

Americans,  too,  may  well  have  a  particular  interest  in 
Constantinople,  for  here  they  have  made  their  mark  through 
their  missionaries.  The  most  important  educational  institu- 
tions and  almost  all  the  Christian  work  of  the  city  is  in  the 
hands  of  American  educators  and  missionaries.  Here  is  sit- 
uated the  famous  Robert  College  which  gathers  its  students 
from  half  a  dozen  nations,  sets  its  seal  of  educated  manhood 
upon  them,  and  sends  them  out  to  be  leaders  and  pioneers  of 
civilization  in  their  own  lands.  The  most  strategic  position 
of  any  educational  institution  in  the  world,  is  that  which  is 
occupied  by  Robert  College. 

Across  the  Bosphorus,  on  the  Asiatic  side  in  the  suburb 
of  Scutari,  is  the  American  College  for  girls,  a  school  which 
I  believe  in  the  future  will  do  for  the  young  women  of 
Turkey,  Bulgaria,  Roumelia,  and  Armenia  what  Robert  Col- 
lege has  done  and  is  doing  for  their  brothers. 

Here  in  Constantinople,  too,  is  the  famous  Bible  House, 


EDUCATING   THE   TURKS, 


555 


with  its  immense  printing  establishment,  from  which  go 
forth  every  year  so  many  printed  leaves  for  the  healing  of 
the  nations.  So  careful  and  wise  are  the  directors  of  this  es- 
tablishment that  even  the  critical  censor  of  the  government 
cannot  object  to  much  of  their  work.  To  be  sure  they  are 
hampered  and  hindered.  Every  obstacle  is  thrown  in  their 
way,  and  many  of  the 
publications  which 
they  would  be  glad  to 
issue  are  altogether 
prohibited ;  but  in  spite 
of  these  obstacles  a 
vast  amount  of  Chris- 
tian literature  gets  into 
the  hands  of  the  sub- 
ject nations  of  Turkey 
from  year  to  year 
through  this  channel. 

We  must  not  fail 
to  visit  the  mosque  of 
St.  Sophia,  one  of  the 
most  impressive 
churches  in  any  land. 
As  my  readers  doubt- 
less know,  it  was  a 
Christian  church  in  the  time  of  Constantine  and  for  many 
centuries  afterAvards.  When  Constantinople  fell  into' the 
hands  of  the  Turks  St.  Sophia  became  a  Turkish  mosque; 
all  the  images  of  the  saints  were  broken,  every  piece  of 
carved  stone  work  which  bore  any  likeness  to  any  creature 
in  the  air  above  or  the  earth  beneath  or  the  waters  under 
the  earth  was  chipped  away ;  the  sign  of  the  cross  which  ap- 
peared innumerable  times  in  different  parts  of  the  cathedral 


MOSQUE   OP   EL   AZAR. 


556 


THE  GREAT  MOSQUE  OF  ST.  SOPHIA. 


was  everywhere  chiseled  out,  and  all  the  magnificent  win- 
dows and  mosaics  were  either  broken  or  covered  up  with 
hideous  yellow  paint  or  plaster.  Yet  in  spite  of  all  this 
vandalism  of  fanatical  image-haters,  St.  Sophia  retains  its 
ancient  glory  and  impressiveness  to  a  large  degree.  Its 
proportions   are    magnificently    symmetrical.      The    dome, 

which  hangs  like  a 
huge  substantial  bub- 
ble in  the  air,  it  is  im- 
possible to  describe 
with  any  adjective 
which  the  dictionary 
furnishes. 

The  floor  is  now 
covered  with  prayer 
rugs,  all  of  them  j)oint- 
ing  toward  Mecca,  so 
that  the  devout  Mos- 
lem when  he  pros- 
trates himself  on  his 
rug  knows  which  way 
to  face,  as  he  mumbles 
his  monotonous  peti- 
tion. 

'Not  only  for  its 
present  magnificence,  however,  is  St.  Sophia  interesting, 
but^because  of  its  historic  associations.  Over  this  famous 
church,  for  manv  a  centurv,  has  Moslem  and  Christian 
quarreled,  and  it  bears  within  itself  many  a  mark  of  the 
hands  of  its  successive  conquerors.  High  up  on  the  wall, 
at  least  ten  feet  higher  than  a  man  on  horseback  can 
reach,  the  print  of  a  bloody  hand  is  pointed  out,  and  we 
are  told  by  our  guide  that  that  is  the  mark  which  was  made 


SIDEWALK   MERCHANTS,    CONSTANTINOPLE. 


THE   STAIX   OF   A  BLOODY   HAND. 


557 


by  the  conquering  Sultan,  who  finally  wrested  Constanti- 
nople from  the  grasp  of  the  Christians.  As  the  last  mark  of 
his  triumph  he  rode  into  this  magnificent  Christian  church 
on  horseback,  after  having  slain  hundreds  of  worshipers  who 
were  there  assembled,  and  so  high  were  the  bodies  of  the 
victims  piled  one  upon  another,  that  when  he  reached  up 
and  struck  his  bloody  palm  against  the  wall  it  made  the 

mark  which  now  we  see  far  above  our  heads. 

^ 


'^^^^^^ 


x>, 


"^(a     1        -^"^Ti 


ST.    SOPHIA,    THE   MAR^-ELOUS. 


On  the  other  side  is  a  stone  column  which  we  are  assured 
was  cleft  at  the  same  time  by  the  sword  of  this  conquering 
monarch.  Here  the  one  who  has  faith  enough  may  see  the 
curbstone  of  the  well  of  Samaria  on  which  Christ  sat.  Here 
is  a  "  sweating  column,"  Avhich  is  almost  worn  away  by  the 
fingers  of  the  credulous,  avIio  find  in  the  moisture  which 
the  stone  exudes  an  ointment  for  all  kinds  of  diseases. 
Some   poor  sufferers  are  always  fingering  this  stone. 


558  THE   FAMOUS  WHIRLING  DERVISHES. 

But  most  impressive  of  all  in  this  great  church  to  the 
Christian,  is  a  picture  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  mosaic  on 
one  of  the  walls,  which  has  been  smeared  over  and  covered 
up  by  Turkish  paint,  but  which  in  the  slow  process  of  the 
centuries  is  beginning  to  show  through  the  veil  with  which 
the  enemies  of  Christ  sought  to  cover  his  face.  The  outline 
is  now  distinctly  visible  and  growing  more  and  more  dis- 
tinct, we  are  told,  as  time  wears  away  the  paint  and  the 
years  roll  on.  Ko  Christian  heart  can  look  upon  it  without 
seeing  in  that  picture  a  prophecy  of  the  day  when  light  from 
the  face  of  Christ  shall  shine  through  the  ignorance  and 
superstition  of  the  Moslem's  faith,  by  which  his  perfect 
countenance  has  been  obscured  for  so  many  centuries. 

Another  famous  sight  which  Ave  shall  be  sure  to  see 
before  leaving  Constantinople  is  the  whirling  and  the  howl- 
ing dervishes.  The  whirlers  whirl  and  the  howlers  howl 
every  week,  though  in  different  mosques,  and  it  is  a  sight 
which  once  seen  is  not  easily  forgotten.  On  the  day  that 
we  went  to  see  the  whirlers  we  had  to  wait  a  long  while 
before  the  first  of  the  dervishes  appeared.  The  mosque  in 
which  they  perform  their  curious  gyrations  is  a  small  build- 
ing with  a  circular  space  railed  off  in  the  center  of  the  floor. 
Outside  of  the  fence  which  incloses  this  circle,  and  in  the 
gallerv  above  which  commands  a  fine  view  of  it,  there  are 
always  crowds  of  spectators. 

When  we  had  been  waiting  some  half  hour  or  more,  two 
dervishes  in  tall,  cream-colored  felt  hats  like  sugar  loaves 
with  the  top  cut  off,  entered  the  mosque  solemnly  and 
slowly.  They  were  covered  with  long,  dark  cloaks  and 
were  very  solemn  and  sedate,  and,  on  the  whole,  good-look- 
ing men.  Then  a  few  more  dervishes  entered  the  mosque, 
and  then  more,  until  there  were  in  all  twenty -seven  men  in 
dark  cloaks  and  tall  sugar-loaf  hats.     Then  three  high  der- 


BEFORE   THE   WHIRL. 


559 


visiles,  one  of  whom  wore  a  broad  ^reen  veil  around  liis 

sugar-loaf  fez,  showing  that  he  is  a  direct  descendant  of  the 

Prophet  himself,  entered  the  charmed  circle.     They  seated 

themselves  on  the  floor  while  all  the  others  stood  about  the 

sides   like   carved    statues.      Then   the   statues   unlimbered 

and  began  to  march  around,  two  by  two,  each  member  of 

each  couple  bowing  low 

to    the   other    as    they 

came   in    front   of    the 

high   dervishes.      Then 

they  bowed  once  more 

before    the    descendant 

of  the  patriarch  and  his 

companions,  and  march 

again  around  the  circle. 

This  process  is  re- 
peated three  times,  and 
each  time  a  verv  low 
salaam  is  made  by  the 
man  in  front  to  the  der- 
vish immediately  be- 
hind him,  and  by  the 
dervish  behind  to  the 
one  who  marches  imme- 
diately in  front  of  him. 
Then  to  the  discordant  and  creaky  music  of  some  pipers  in 
the  gallery  they  begin  to  whirl,  slowly  at  first,  but  as  the 
music  increases  in  rapidity  they  whirl  more  swiftly  and  more- 
swiftly  still,  until  in  a  perfect  frenzy  they  swing  around  their 
narrow  circle. 

Before  beginning  this  operation  they  cast  off  their  long- 
cloaks  and  appeared  clad  in  skirts  which  reached  consider- 
ably below  their  knees.     As  they  whirled  the  sMi'ts  of  tha 


A  WHIRLING   DERVISH. 


5 GO  A  STRANGE   CEREMONY. 

most  energetic  stood  out  stiff  from  their  bodies  like  encom- 
passing balloons,  just  as  I  have  seen  the  skirts  of  little  girls 
fly  out  when  whirling  about  in  the  process  familiarly  known 
as  "making  a  cheese."  Some  of  the  dervishes  whirl  much 
better  than  others,  and  it  seems  to  be  the  height  of  their  am- 
bition to  revolve  so  rapidly  and  smoothly  that  not  one  of 
them  shall  touch  the  other,  and  that  their  skirts  shall  stand 
out  from  their  bodies  as  thoug-h  distended  bv  a  husi:e  crino- 

O  I/O 

line.  How  they  keep  it  up  is  a  mystery,  but  keep  it  up 
they  do  minute  after  minute  for  fully  ten  minutes  at  a  time. 
Then  after  resting  a  little  they  march  round  once  more  and 
whirl  again,  and  this  strange  religious  ceremony  is  over. 

At  least  this  was  all  we  saw  the  dervishes  perform, 
though  frequently  babies  are  brought  in  in  the  arms  of  their 
infatuated  parents  and  laid  upon  the  floor  of  the  mosque  for 
the  holy  men  to  walk  over.  They  step  lightly  and  gingerly 
as  though  treading  on  eggs,  and  it  is  said  that  they  rarely 
hurt  the  little  victims  under  their  feet ;  still,  it  cannot  be  en- 
tirely pleasant  for  the  babies. 

The  "howlers"  are  verv  much  of  the  same  order,  but 
instead  of  whirling  they  sway  their  bodies  violently  back- 
ward and  forward  and  from  right  to  left  as  though  they 
would  jerk  their  heads  off  their  bodies,  at  the  same  time 
chanting  a  weird  cry,  which  degenerates  at  times  into  a 
frightful  yell.  Their  exertions  are  more  violent  than  that  of 
the  whirlers  and  their  healing  efficacy  in  treading  upon  in- 
fants is  said  to  be  even  greater  than  that  of  their  brother 
dervishes. 

One  more  scene  which  we  shall  witness  before  leaving 
Constantinople  is  the  weeldy  ceremony,  which  when  trans- 
lated into  English  means  the  going  to  mosque  of  the  Sultan. 
Every  visitor  who  is  in  the  city  on  Friday  makes  it  a  point 
of  getting  a  permit  from  his  consulate  which  will  enable  him 


HOW   THE   SULTAN   GOES   TO   CHURCH.  561 

to  see  this  wonderful  sight.  The  ceremony  of  going  to 
church  is  nowhere  else  attended  by  so  much  pomp  and  mag- 
nificence, or  with  so  much  fuss  and  feathers  as  that  of  the 
ruler  of  the  faithful  here  in  Constantinople, 

For  hours  beforehand  the  soldiers  begin  to  assemble- 
From  all  parts  of  the  city  they  come,  infantry,  cavalry,  and 
artillery,  bands  of  music,  and  flaunting  horse  tails,  which  in 
former  years  were  the  ensigns  which  led  the  Turks  to 
victory.  Every  street  and  approach  within  half  a  mile  of 
the  mosque  is  lined  with  soldiers  four  deep,  and  even  on 
ordinary  occasions  it  is  said  that  ten  thousand  men  g^uard 
the  sacred  person  of  His  Majesty  every  Friday. 

Half  an  hour  before  the  Sultan's  carriage  appears  upon 
the  scene  a  half  score  or  more  of  carts  filled  with  sand  of 
the  finest  quality  sprinkle  the  roadway  over  which  the  royal 
wheels  will  trundle.  Every  little  pebble  larger  than  a  pea 
is  picked  out  by  careful  attendants.  We  only  wish,  as  we 
see  all  this  preparation,  that  the  Sultan  could  have  gone  over 
some  of  the  horrible  roads  in  the  interior  of  his  dominion, 
and  have  his  royal  bones  shaken  up  as  ours  were  shaken  on 
his  wretched  highways.  There  would  be  some  poetic  justice 
in  this. 

While  we  are  waiting  for  the  royal  carriage  all  is  bustle 
and  activity,  scores  and  scores  of  elegant  equipages  drawn 
by  prancing  horses  draw  up  in  front  of  the  mosque,  and  out 
of  these  carriages  step  most  gorgeous  human  butterflies  in 
bewflderingly  magnificent  raiment.  Generals  and  commo- 
dores and  ambassadors  of  the  highest  rank  are  here  blazing 
with  their  decorations  and  jeweled  insignia  of  ofiice.  Here 
come  three  or  four  beautiful  carriages  in  which  are  the 
Sultan's  wives  and  some  of  his  daughters.  They  are  not 
allowed  to  step  out  of  the  carriages,  and  we  can  just  see  their 
black  eyes  gleaming  above  their  veils  as  they  look  out  curi- 


562 


THE   sultan's   wives   AND   DAUGHTERS. 


ously  upon  the  scene,  for  this  is  one  of  the  few  outings 
which  they  have  in  their  lives.  Then  comes  the  Sultan's 
nephews,  the  heir  apparent  to  the  throne,  and  his  younger 
brothers  and  cousins,  the  smaller  ones  attended  by  ugly 
black  eunuchs  whose  long  arms  seem  to  hang  down  nearly 
to  their  knees. 


A  TURKISH  BEAUTY. 


Into  the  mosque  are  now  taken  the  Sultan's  library 
chair,  a  box  containing  his  clothes,  a  white  dinner  service^ 
and  numerous  other  things,  until  one  thinks  he  is  about  to 
move  into  the  mosque  to  live ;  but,  no,  they  will  all  be  taken 
out  again  in  half  an  hour  and  carted  home,  but  everything  is 
placed  there  in  readiness  so  that  if  he  expresses  the  slightest 
wish  it  may  at  once  be  fulfilled. 


A   MEAN   AND    CRAFTY-LOOKING   RULER.  5G3 

And  now  look!  The  band  strikes  up  a  martial  air  of 
welcome,  a  look  of  expectancy  comes  upon  every  face,  and 
ten  thousand  necks  are  craned  to  see  the  carriage  which 
comes  slowly  down  the  hill  from  the  palace  to  the  mosque. 
On  the  front  seat  of  this  carriage  is  a  noble-looking  man  in 
splendid  military  costume  covered  with  decorations,  who 
appears  every  inch  a  king.  But  he  is  not  the  Sultan.  The 
other  man  who  sits  on  the  back  seat  of  the  carriage, —  that 
mean,  crafty-looking  fellow,  with  the  red  beard  and  hooked 
nose,  and  the  scared  look  in  the  deceitful  eyes  which  he  lifts 
to  the  crowd  of  European  spectators  as  he  passes  the  em- 
bassy,—that  is  "The  Sultan  of  glorious  Sultans,  Emperor  of 
powerful  Emperors,  distributer  of  the  crowns  of  inhdel 
rulers  that  are  seated  upon  thrones,  the  shadow  of  God  upon 
earth.  I,  who  am  the  Emperor,  the  Asylum  of  Justice  and 
the  King  of  Kings,  the  centre  of  victory;  I,  who,  by  the 
real  Almighty,  the  Fount  of  happiness,  am  adorned  with  the 
title  of  Emperor  of  both  lands,  and,  by  the  crowning 
grandeur  of  my  caliphate,  am  graced  by  the  title  of  Sov- 
ereign of  both  Seas." 

He  dismounts  at  the  door  of  the  mosque,  enters  the 
sanctuary  just  as  the  old  howjeh  from  the  minaret  overhead 
calls  to  noonday  prayer,  is  absent  for  about  half  an  hour, 
presumably  at  his  worship,  and  then  returns,  takes  the  reins 
from  his  coachman  and  drives  himself  slowly  up  the  hill  to 
his  palace. 

It  is  said  that   he  regards   this  feat  of  driving  himself 

from  the  mosque  to  the  palace  up  a  somewhat  steep  hill 

with  ten  thousand  soldiers  to  come  to  his  rescue  if  necessary, 

as  a  feat  of  surpassing  courage.     It  is  the  only  brave  thing 

that  he  attempts  to  do,  and  most  of  his  time,  it  is  said,  is 

passed  in  abject  fear  lest  he  lose  his  life,  and  his  empire  be 

wrested  from  his  unworthy  hands. 
34 


564  THE   sultan's   fear   OF   ASSASSINATION. 

How  different  this  from  the  brave  days  of  old  when 
Othnian  and  Suleyman  and  their  successors  led  their  own 
troops  m  the  thickest  of  the  fray  from  victory  to  victory ! 
We  can  have  some  respect  for  these  old  warriors,  cruel  and 
fanatical  and  bloodthirsty  as  many  of  them  were, —  at  least 
they  ruled  with  kingly  dignity  and  in  kingly  splendor. 

In  the  old  time  the  Sultan  had  in  his  seraglio  a  first  lord 
of  the  stable  under  whom  were  nearly  seven  thousand 
grooms  to  take  care  of  the  royal  steeds.  He  had  also  a 
"Chief  Falconer"  and  "Chief  Hawker,"  and  even  a  "Chief 
Sparrow  Hawker."  The  "Chief  of  his  Tent  Pitchers"  had 
under  him  nearlv  eight  hundred  men  whose  dutv  it  was  to 
pitch  the  Sultan's  tents  wherever  he  might  wish  to  spend  the 
day.  He  also  had  a  "Chief  Taster,"  with  fifty  sub-tasters 
under  bim  who  tried  all  the  Sultan's  dishes. 

His  "  Chief  Baker  "  was  the  master  of  five  hundred  other 
bakers,  and  the  "  Chief  Confectioner  "  had  five  hundred  who 
were  subject  to  huu.  Besides  these,  there  was  the  "  Master 
Yesturer,"  who  bad  charge  of  tbe  Sultan's  clothes,  and  whose 
duty  it  was  to  follow  him  when  be  went  abroad  and  scatter 
silver  coins  before  him.  The  "  Master  of  the  Turbans  "  had 
charge  of  the  imperial  head-dress,  one  of  which  he  carried  in 
procession,  inclining  it  to  right  or  left  as  a  salutation  to  the 
people.  There  was  even  a  "  Master  of  the  JSTapkins,"  a 
"  Master  Ewer  Keeper,"  who  poured  water  on  the  Sultan's 
bands,  a  "  Chief  Turban  Winder,"  a  "  Chief  Coffee  Server," 
and  a  "  Chief  Barber,"  with  many  subordinates  under  each 
of  them.  We  even  read  of  a  "  Chief  Nightingale  Keeper," 
and  "  Chief  Parrot  Keeper,"  whose  duties  may  be  guessed 
from  their  very  names. 

A  trustworthy  author  who  visited  the  royal  treasure 
chambers  as  late  as  1886,  tells  us  that  there  be  beheld  "  huge 
emeralds  as  large  as  one's  hand,  garnets  positively  plated 


RICH   STORES   OF  COSTLY  JEWELS. 


565 


•with  great  table  diamonds,  maces,  and  daggers  whose  hilts 
held  gems  as  large  as  hens'  eggs.  Jeweled  aigrets  and  robes 
of  state  standing  up  stiff  with  gold  and  precious  stones." 

All  these  are  the  relics  of  the  more  prosperous  past.  All 
indicate  an  era  of  splendid  though  barbaric  magnificence.' 
All  show  a  period  of  virility  and  manly  strength  in  rulers 
and  conquering  people  alike.  How,  indeed,  are  the  mighty 
fallen,  when,  from  this  period  of  grandeur,  we  come  down  to 


A  TURKISH   WOMAN. 

the  timid,  mean-faced  Sultan  of  the  present  day,  who  dares 
not  go  to  mosque  without  ten  thousand  soldiers  to  insure  his 
safety,  and  who,  with  all  his  cruel  tyranny,  is  ready  to  col- 
lapse with  terror,  when  a  foreign  nation  so  much  as  whispers 
the  word  "  ironclad  "  in  his  ear ! 

Before  we  leave  Asia  for  the  shores  of  Europe,  we  must 
make  a  brief  excursion  to  Broussa,  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able as  one  of  the  most  beautiful  cities  of  the  Ottoman 
Empire.     A  lovely  sail  of  half  a  day  brings  us  to  the  port  of 


56G 


A  BRAVE  AND   WISE   SULTAN   OF  OLD. 


this  ancient  capital  of  the  Moslem.  Here  we  find  Moham- 
medanism at  its  best.  The  mosques  are  spacious  and  mag- 
nificent. Quite  an  attempt  is  made  in  the  line  of  education, 
and  the  magnificent  scenery,  the  pure  air,  and  grand  old 
Olympus  (not  the  Olympus  of  classic  fable,  but  a  very  re- 
spectable mountain,  nevertheless)  which  forms  a  background 
to  the  city,  all  seem  to  have  left  their  impress  upon  the  rul- 


A  SULTAN  S  TOMB. 


ins:  race,  and  nowhere  are  Moslems  more  courteous  and  less 
fanatical  than  in  this  their  ancient  capital. 

Here,  as  long  ago  as  the  year  1326,  after  a  ten-years 
siege,  Broussa  capitulated  to  the  troops  of  Othman,  and  here 
the  great  Sultan  was  buried  soon  after,  for  it  was  his  dying 
wish  that  he  should  be  interred  at  Broussa,  the  new  capital 
of  his  mighty  empire.  The  sword  of  Othman  is  still  sacredly 
treasured  at  Constantinople,  and  each  Sultan  in  his  turn,  as 
he  comes  to  the  throne,  has  the  sacred  blade  of  the  founder 
of  his  empire  buckled  to  his  belt  by  way  of  coronation. 


THE   TOMB   OF    ''  BLACK   OTHMAN." 


567 


Happy  would  it  have  been  for  his  successors,  and  the  em- 
pire which  they  govern,  if  his  descendants  had  been  as  brave, 
as  far-seeing,  and  as  simple  in  their  habits  as  their  great 
ancestor.  Simple  in  his  dress,  his  figure  was  imposing. 
Like  Longimanus,  his  arms  reached  below  his  knees,  his 
thighs  were  those  of  a  horseman,  and  his  prominent  nose, 
black  hair  and  beard,  and  swarthy  hue,  procured  him  the 
name  of  '*  Black  Othman,"  for  black  is  a  color  of  honor  in 
the  East  and  indicates  strength  of  character  as  well  as  bodily 
vigor  and  energy.  Black  Othman  transmitted  his  physical 
characteristics  to  several  generations  of  his  successors,  and, 
for  at  least  three  hundred  years,  there  sat  no  Sultan  on  the 
Ottoman  throne  who  was  not    distinguished  for   personal 


courage. 


The  beautiful  tomb  of  the  brave  Othman  is  w^ell  worth  a 
visit  even  from  Christians,  who  detest  his  creed  and  abomi- 
nate the  ways  of  his  descendants.  Several  of  the  other  great 
Sultans  are  also  buried  at  Broussa,  in  finely-preserved  mauso- 
leums, in  which  the  tombs  are  covered  with  heavy  black 
draperies,  which  give  a  singularly  dignified  and  sombre 
aspect  to  these  halls  of  death. 


ffl!|i||*i-t-*i.^ 


'^m 


r^ 


CHAPTEK  XXX. 

THROUGH    CLASSIC    LANDS  — FROM    COXSTANTIXOPLE    TO 
THE  COAST   OF  SPAIN  — HOMEWARD  BOUND. 

Off  for  Athens— On  the  Tchickatchoff  —  The  Occident  and  the  Orient  — 
The  Sharp  Line  of  Demarcation — Tenedos  and  Its  "Wooden  Horse  — 
What  Makes  Atliens  Great  To-day? — A  Charming  Journey — The 
Ruined  City  and  its  Thrilling  Story  —  The  Romantic  Way  of  Climbing 
Vesuvius  —  The  Lake  of  Fire  and  Brimstone  — An  Awful  Accident 
—  Where  the  Christians  Fought  with  Wild  Beasts  —  Pisa  and  its  Bell 
Tower  —  The  Campo  Santo  and  its  Sacred  Soil  —  Lazy  Venice  and  its 
Gondolas —  Genoa  the  Superb  —  All  that  We  Found  of  Columbus  —  On 
the  Borders  of  Spain  —  A  Royal  Swimmer  —  Ambitious  Spanish  Girls  — 
Too  Envious  to  be  Courteous  —  A  Memory  of  Lafayette  —  Washer- 
women Object  to  Modern  Conveniences  —  The  Best  Part  of  the  Trip. 


fE  must  be  an  audacious  author  in- 
deed, who  thinks  that  he  can 
compel  the  attention  of  the  world 
to  what  he  may  say  about  much- 
written  Europe,  when  library 
shelves  groan  with  books  con- 
cerning it,  and  thousands  of  vol- 
umes are  added  to  their  list  every 
year.  My  temerity  is  not  of 
such  large  proportions  as  to 
undertake  this  task.  So,  in  a 
single  chapter,  we  will  take  our 
hasty  journey  from  the  Bosphorus  to  the  coast  of  Spain. 
We  will  embark,  if  you  please,  my  reader,  as  it  was  our 

good  fortune  actually  to  do,  on  the  Eussian  steamer  Tcliick- 

(568) 


ON   BOARD   ONE   OF   THE   CZAR'S   STEAMERS.  569 

atchoff,  which  sails  from  Constantinople  to  Athens.     One  of 
the  finest  steamers  on  which  we  have  sailed  since  we  left 
home,  is  this  same  Russian  vessel  with  the  unpronounceable 
name.     The  staterooms  are  large  and  airy,  the  table  is  most 
bountifully  spread,  the  decks  are  clean  and  broad,  and  the 
saloons  fitted  up  in  the  most  elegant  style  of  naval  architect- 
ure and  decoration.     We  are  almost  ready  to  relent  and  to 
shade  down  our  deep-seated  antipathy  to  the  tyrannical  Czar 
when  we  find  that  he  charters  so  fine  a  steamer  to  carry  us 
from  the  Orient  to  the  Occident,  for  this  trip  is  nothing  less 
than  such  a  journey.     The  line  of  demarcation  is  sharp  and 
distinct.      The  Orient  sweeping  eastward   comes  as  far  as 
Constantinople  and  ends  there,  the  Occident  sweeping  west- 
ward breaks  with  its  waves  of  nineteenth  century  progress, 

» 

unavailingly  on  the  shores  of  Bosphorus.  It  makes  but  little 
impression  even  upon  ConstantinojDle,  and  none  at  all  upon 
the  country  beyond. 

Not  only  do  we  go  from  the  Orient  to  the  Occident,  but 
from  the  middle  ages  into  modern  times,  from  the  twelfth 
century  into  the  nineteenth,  from  conservatism,  stagnation, 
retrogression,  to  progress,  advancement,  and  the  seething, 
vigorous  life  of  modern  days,  when  we  journey  from  Con- 
stantinople to  Athens. 

Past  ancient  Troy  we  sail,  where,  with  the  hel])  of  a 
powerful  spy-glass  and  a  still  more  powerful  imagination,  we 
almost  make  ourselves  believe  that  we  can  see  the  excavations 
of  Dr.  Schliemann  ;  past  the  barren  island  of  Tenedos,  where 
in  ancient  times  the  Greeks  made  the  wooden  horse  by 
means  of  which  they  conquered  Troy. 

Tenedos,  however,  in  ancient  days  must  have  been  a  dif- 
ferent island  from  what  it  is  to-day,  for  there  are  not  enough 
trees  upon  it  now  or  upon  any  of  the  islands  in  the  vicinity 
to  make  a  hobby-horse  for  a  baby,  much  less  an  animal  with 


570  IN   FAMOUS   ATHENS. 

such  a  capacious  interior  as  that  in  which  the  Greeks  made 
their  famous  entrance  into  Trov.  How  the  Greeks  manae-ed 
to  get  this  huge  wooden  monstrosity  across  the  wide  stretch 
of  turbulent  sea  which  runs  between  Tenedos  and  Troy  is 
another  of  the  mysteries  upon  Avhich  history  is  silent.  But 
we  are  not  iconoclasts,  and  we  do  not  wish  to  suggest  harrow- 
ing doubts  concerning  cherished  fables  to  the  future  genera- 
tions of  classical  scholars. 

We  passed  through  the  beautiful  Hellespont  early  in  the 
morning  and  not  a  great  while  thereafter  reached  the  Py- 
reus,  the  harbor  of  Athens.  To  attempt  to  "  do  "  Athens  in 
the  space  of  a  few  pages  is  such  a  manifestly  absurd  task 
that  I  will  only  say  that  we  stood  reverently  upon  the  Par- 
thenon while  our  souls  did  reverence  to  the  genius  of  ancient 
days,  embodied  in  the  Propylgeum  and  the  Erechtheum  with 
its  stately  caryatides ;  that  we  visited  the  Tower  of  the  Winds 
and  the  arch  of  Hadrian  and  the  Temple  of  Theseus  ;  that 
we  stood  upon  the  Pnyx  where  Demosthenes  delivered  his 
world-famous  speeches,  and  that  especially  our  souls  did 
homage  to  the  place  most  full  of  great  memories  to  us,  when 
we  stood  upon  Mars  Hill.  Here,  in  imagination,  as  we 
looked  off  upon  the  historic  city  lying  at  our  feet,  with  its 
temples  and  its  altars  and  its  crowded  thoroughfares,  filled 
as  they  were  in  ancient  times,  with  a  volatile,  excitable,  but 
intellectual  people,  we  heard  St.  Paul  saying,  as  he  stood 
upon  this  very  spot :  ''  Ye  men  of  Athens,  I  perceive  that  in 
all  things  ye  are  too  superstitious,  for,  as  I  passed  by  and  be- 
held your  devotions  I  found  an  altar  with  the  inscription : 
'  To  the  unknown  God.'  Whom,  therefore  ye  ignorantly 
worship.  Him  declare  I  unto  you." 

That  speech,  with  all  that  it  revealed  of  the  fatherhood 
of  God,  and  the  brotherhood  of  men  whom  God  made  "  of 
one  blood  to  dwell  upon  all  the  face  of  the  earth,"  did  more 


BY    SWORD   AND    PEN.  571 

for  mankind  and  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  memory  of 
Athens,  than  all  the  works  of  Phidias  and  the  conquests  pf 
Hadrian  and  the  orations  of  Demosthenes,  which  also  have 
made  the  city  memorable. 

The  thought  is  sure  to  come  to  every  thoughtful  man 
who  stands  on  the  heights  of  the  Parthenon,  "  What  has 
made  this  little  city  famous  in  all  the  ages  of  the  world  ? " 
Its  situation,  while  beautiful,  is  no  more  remarkable  than 
that  of  scores  of  other  cities  on  the  blue  Mediterranean.  Its 
natural  advantages  are  not  so  great  as  those  of  other  cities 
of  ancient  and  modern  times.  The  tributary  country  is 
comparatively  barren  and  poor,  the  population  was  never 
large,  as  the  great  modern  nations  count  populations. 

What,  then  has  made  Athens  so  famous  in  all  the  history 
of  the  world  ?  There  is  but  one  answer  to  the  question. 
She  was  the  mother  of  heroes  and  the  mother  of  historians. 
Brave  men  won  her  battles  and  true  patriots  ornamented  her 
public  squares  and  erected  her  famous  buildings,  and,  more 
than  that,  poets  were  born  to  sing  their  virtues,  and  histo- 
rians to  record  their  deeds  of  praise.  The  sword  alone  could 
not  have  made  little  Greece  memorable  among  all  the  nations 
of  the  world,  but  the  sword  supplemented  by  the  pen,  the 
great  deed  not  only  done  but  sung,  has  given  her  an  imper- 
ishable name,  and  attracts  to  her  to-day  scholars  and  lovers 
of  everything  that  is  noble  and  beautiful  and  true. 

The  railway  journey  from  Athens  to  Patras  is  one  of  the 
most  charming  which  can  be  taken  in  any  continent.  All 
the  way  the  railroad  runs  within  sight  of  the  sounding  sea, 
affording  most  picturesque  glimpses  of  the  famous  mountains 
of  Greece,  every  one  of  which  has  been  glorified  in  song  and 
story. 

Mount  Olympus  and  Mount  Parnassus,  Pentelicus,  and 
Ilymettus,  we  see  them  all,  and  what  classic  memories  they 


572  NAPLES  AND   VESUVIUS. 

evoke !  Some  of  these  memories  are  a  little  cloudv,  like  the 
mists  wliich  hover  about  the  tops  of  the  mountains  them- 
selves, but,  nevertheless,  the  mountains  are  verv  real  things 
behind  the  mists,  and  so  are  the  school-dav  memories  which 
cluster  around  them  very  real  to  us,  though  hid  by  the  haze 
of  succeeding  years. 

Another  delightful  journey  is  the  sail  by  steamer  from 
Patras  to  Brindisi  over  the  Ionian  Sea,  a  journey  of  some 
thirty  hours,  with  a  stop  by  the  way  at  Corfu,  one  of  the 
most  lovely  spots  which  the  whole  map  of  the  world  affords. 

From  Brindisi  to  Kaples  is  an  all-day's  ride  over  one  of 
the  slow  Italian  railways,  but  a  ride  full  of  enjoyment,  as  ^ye 
see  the  fertile  fields,  the  smiling  vineyards,  and  the  flower- 
decked  pastures  of  sunny  Italy.  At  last,  Vesuvius,  with 
a  thin  wreath  of  smoke  curling  from  its  peaks,  breaks  upon 
our  view.  We  rumble  past  the  buried  city  of  Pompeii, 
rattle  over  the  tomb  of  Herculaneum,  and  go  puffing  into, 
the  great  station  of  Is^aples  just  as  the  setting  sun  makes 
doubly  glorious  the  always  beautiful  blue  bay. 

IS^aples  has  few  attractions  in  itself,  but  is  noted  for  the 
beauty  and  interest  of  its  surroundings ;  and  while  Pompeii 
lies  at  its  very  door,  with  the  paint  of  nineteen  hundred 
years  ago  still  fresh  upon  its  ruined  walls,  with  the  ruts 
worn  by  the  chariots  of  old  still  visible  in  its  streets,  with  the 
shops  of  its  bakers  and  its  oil  merchants  and  its  wine  sellers, 
just  as  they  left  them  when  they  sold  their  last  loaf  of  bread 
and  flask  of  wine  nineteen  centuries  ago,  Naples  will  never 
lose  its  attractiveness  for  the  traveler  and  the  antiquarian. 

More  full  of  unique  and  thrilling  interest  than  almost 
any  spot  on  earth  is  this  ruined  city  which  was  overwhelmed 
by  the  wrath  of  God  in  a  single  night ;  its  polluted  streets 
and  houses,  Avhich  even  now  indicate  depths  of  depravity 
that  have  seldom  been  witnessed  in  the  history  of  the  world, 


A  LAKE   OF   MOLTEN   FIRE.  573 

ruined  and  utterly  destroyed  as  habitations  for  the  living. 
Surely  the  moralist  will  be  excused  for  drawing  his  lesson 
from  the  destruction  of  this  comparatively  modern  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah. 

There  are  two  ways  of  ascending  Vesuvius.  The  old- 
fashioned  way  takes  us  on  horseback  from  the  guides'  house 
near  Pompeii  through  vineyards  and  villages,  and  across  the 
ashes  and  pumice  and  scoriae  of  a  hundred  eruptions,  to  the 
base  of  the  volcanic  cone  itself.  Then  we  dismount  from  our 
horses,  leave  them  in  the  hands  of  some  villainous-looking 
guides  who  are  waiting  to  devour  as  much  of  the  substance 
of  the  average  traveler  as  they  can  lay  hands  on  without 
getting  into  jail,  and  then  make  the  sharp,  steep  climb  on 
foot  to  the  very  summit.  This  is  not  a  holiday  task,  by  any 
means,  and  I  do  not  recommend  it  to  those  who  do  not  have 
stout  muscles  and  strong  lungs  and  a  good  degree  of  physical 
endurance.  It  is,  however,  the  more  picturesque  and  ro- 
mantic method,  for  the  other  way  takes  us  by  railway  to 
within  a  few  rods  of  the  very  top.  Then  we  pick  our  way 
cautiously  over  the  steaming  vent  holes  and  across  the  hot 
sulphur  and  burning  ashes  until  we  stand  on  the  ridge  of 
the  crater,  and  hear  below  us  the  sullen,  awful  "swash"  of 
the  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone. 

One  cannot  always  see  the  seething  lake  itself  because  it 
is  generally  hidden  by  the  almost  continuous  sulphurous 
fumes  which  rise  from  its  surface.  But  that  wdiich  is  not 
visible  to  one  sense  is  audible  to  another,  and  the  beatins-  of 
that  lake  of  molten  fire  upon  the  sides  of  the  imprisoning 
mountain  seemed  to  me  the  most  awful  sound  I  ever  heard. 
More  vivid  than  ever  before  was  the  dreadful  Scripture 
imagery  which  typifies  of  the  final  destruction  of  those  who 
hate  all  that  is  good  and  true. 

A  few  days  after  a  visit  Avhich  I  once  paid  to  this  crater^ 


57-i      WHERE   CHRISTIANS   FOUGHT   WITH   WILD  BEASTS. 

two  gentlemen  were  standing  on  the  very  edge,  wliere  a  little 
while  before  I  had  stood  unconscious  of  any  dang^er,  when 
the  fumes  from  the  pit  being  blown  that  way  by  a  pecu- 
liarly strong  gust  of  wind  they  were  overcome  by  it. 
Blinded  and  suffocated  thev  fell  headlono^  into  the  dreadful 
lake  which  boiled  and  blistered  beneath.  The  only  circum- 
stance which  mitigates  the  dreadful  accident  was  that  their 
sufferings  must  have  been  absolutely  momentary. 

When  we  reach  Home,  as  we  shall  after  three  days  in 
Naples,  how  can  we  hope  to  even  touch  upon  its  grandeur 
and  beauty!  We  are  filled  with  the  hopelessness  of  our 
task  at  the  very  beginning,  and  the  longer  we  stay  roaming 
through  its  miles  of  picture  galleries,  visiting  its  acres  of 
statuary,  strolling  into  church  after  church,  each  one  of 
which  is  worth  a  week  of  study,  roaming  among  the  ruins  of 
the  palaces  of  a  score  of  Caesars,  we  are  ready  to  aver  that 
one  cannot  hope  to  see  Eome  thoroughly  unless  he  has 
months  at  his  disposal. 

Among  all  the  sig-lits  of  ruined  Rome  the  Colosseum 
impresses  me  most  deeply.  Here  the  imagination  has 
full  play.  Here  the  poetic  fancy  can  ask  for  nothing 
more.  Story  on  story  rise  the  tiers  of  seats  for  the  spec- 
tators who  rejoiced  in  the  bloody  tragedies  of  those  cruel 
days.  Eighty  thousand  people  could  here  be  accommodated, 
and  in  the  ampitheatre  upon  which  all  these  tiers  of  seats 
look  down,  how  many  dreadful  tragedies  were  enacted ! 

Here  came  the  Christians  to  fight  with  the  wald  beasts. 
Here  came  the  gladiators  to  struggle  in  mortal  combat,  wdth 
never  a  merciful  thumb  raised  from  the  spectators  who 
enjoyed  their  agony.  Here  assembled  the  beauty  and 
chivalry,  the  aristocracy  and  royalty  of  Rome  in  her  most 
glorious  days,  but  at  the  heart  of  this  royalty  and  chivalry 
and  beauty  was  the  corrupting  worm  of  selfishness,  cruelty, 


THE   LESSON   OF  A  RUIN.  575 

corruption,  and  tyranny.  The  Colosseum  is  a  type  of  all 
that  is  grandest  and  of  all  that  was  basest  in  ancient 
Rome.  It  is  the  living  exhibition  in  substantial  stone  and 
mortar  of  her  grandest  davs  and  her  weakest  days,  of 
her  power  and  her  poverty  alike. 

We  are  glad  that  it  is  now  a  ruin,  for  the  Colosseum 
was  always  dedicated  to  that  which  was  mean  and  base. 
We  are  glad  that  the  ruin  still  stands,  for  it  teaches  the 
whole  world  that  material  power  and  grandeur  and  wealth, 
beyond  anything  which  the  ages  have  known  before  or 
since,  are  not  sufficient  of  themselves  to  make  a  nation  truly 
great  or  permanently  powerful. 

Of  course  we  will  go  into  St.  Peter's  before  we  leave  the 
ancient  city.  It  is  the  fashion  for  many  travelers  to  say  that 
they  are  disappointed  in  St.  Peter's,  and  no  doubt  such  a 
feeling  does  come  to  one  as  he  looks  first' at  the  unworthy 
and  meaningless  fa9ade  which  greets  him  as  he  walks  up  to 
the  entrance.  But  all  sense  of  disappointment  disappeared, 
so  far  as  I  was  concerned,  when  I  entered  its  vast  por- 
tals and  found  myself  beneath  its  mighty  domes.  Every- 
thing that  marble  and  gilding;  frescoing  and  mosaic 
work  can  do  to  make  a  building  sublimely,  grandly  beautiful, 
has  here  been  done.  The  wealth  and  genius  of  the  ages 
have  been  lavished  upon  this  wonderful  church,  and  we  do 
not  wonder  that  it  is  the  Mecca  of  every  devout  Catholic. 

To  the  Protestant,  however,  accustomed  to  the  more 
severe  simplicity  of  his  own  modest  sanctuaries,  there  is  very 
much  that  is  wanting,  even  in  this  magnificent  church, 
to  make  it  all  that  he  dreams  concerning  the  constant 
abiding  place  of  God.  Here  the  Pope  seems  to  be  glorified 
more  than  the  Master  of  the  Pope.  St.  Peter  is  more 
conspicuous  than  the  one  who  said  to  him,  "  Henceforth 
thou ,  shaft  be  called  Peter,  for  on   this  rock  will  I  build 


57G  A  STORY   OF   THE   CRUSADERS. 

my  church,'"  and  the  Virgin  Mary  is  vastl}^  more  honored 
than  her  Divine  Son.  With  an  unsatisfied,  hungering  sense 
of  want,  the  Protestant  Christian  is  likely  to  go  out  from 
this  gorgeous  cathedral,  feeling  that  amid  all  the  gilding  and 
painting,  the  statuary  and  the  famous  shrines,  he  has 
not  found  God  or  drawn  any  nearer  to  the  Saviour's  side. 

AYhere  else  shall  I  conduct  mv  readers  in  this  land  of 
Italy,  crowded  as  it  is  with  places  of  supreme  historic 
interest?  Shall  we  go  to  Pisa  and  visit  its  cathedrals 
and  its  baptistry,  its  Leaning  Bell  Tower  and  its  Campo 
Santo  ?  We  should  certainly  enjoy  the  day  there,  for  all 
its  sights  are  crowded  close  together,  and  one  has  no 
wearying  walk  to  take  in  going  from  one  to  another. 

The  Campo  Santo,  or  sacred  place  of  burial,  is  to  me  the 
most  interesting  spot  in  little  Pisa.  Here,  seven  centuries 
ago,  the  Crusaders  brought  shipload  after  shipload  of  sacred 
soil  from  Jerusalem,  whither  they  had  sailed  from  Pisa 
when  it  was  a  great  commercial  port.  Their  ships  went  out 
crowded  with  eager,  adventurous  youths,  many  of  whom, 
alas,  were  to  lay  their  bones  in  the  land  of  Palestine  or  on 
the  way  thither,  and  the  ships  which  sailed  forth  bearing  the 
pride  and  bloom  of  Italian  chivalry  came  back  loaded  only 
with  dust  and  ashes  from  the  Sacred  City.  Fifty-three 
shiploads  of  this  sacred  soil  were  deposited  in  this  great 
rectangular  enclosure,  and  here  many  Crusaders  and  other 
famous  men  were  buried.  From  the  walls  around  the 
Campo  Santo,  on  every  side,  look  down  pictures  of  Biblical 
scenes  painted  by  the  most  famous  artists  centuries  ago, 
pictures '  Avhich  are  still  bright  and  fresh  and  vivid  as  though 
the  colors  were  laid  on  but  yesterday. 

Shall  we  go  to  Florence  together  and  visit  the  miles  of 
picture  galleries,  its  beautiful  park  and  its  lovely  drives 
along  the  historic  Arno?     Shall  we  feed  our  souls  on  the 


IN   COLUMBUS'S   BIRTHPLACE.  577 

memories  of  the  great  deeds  which  were  done  by  the  great 
men  of  Florence  in  the  daj^s  of  her  pride  and  strength? 
When  my  readers  do  take  this  journey,  not  in  this  hasty 
fashion,  but  in  reality,  the}"  will  agree  with  me,  I  am 
sm-e,  that  no  days  are  more  pleasantly  spent  than  those  that 
are  devoted  to  charming  Florence. 

But  we  must  hurry  on,  not  even  stopping  to  spend  a  few 
lazy  days  in  the  gondolas  of  Venice,  feeding  the  pigeons  in 
St.  Mark's  Square,  or  watching  the  glass-blowers  in  the 
factories  which  line  the  great  canal,  for  we  must  tarry  at 
least  a  time  in  Genoa,  the  Superb.  "With  our  souls  fired 
with  admiration  for  Columbus,  Genoa  presents  a  magnet 
quite  too  strong  to  l)e  resisted,  and  yet  when  we  reach  the 
city  of  his  birthplace,  we  find  remarkably  few  memorials  of 
the  great  discoverer.  The  house  in  which  he  was  born,  or  in 
which  he  is  said  by  some  people  to  have  been  born,  is 
situated  several  miles  bevond  the  citv  limits,  and  an  auto- 
graph  letter  in  one  of  the  museums  is  about  the  only 
authentic  memorial  of  him  which  we  find. 

But,  after  all,  these  material  relics  and  memorials  im- 
pressed me  not  nearly  as  much  as  the  intangible  things  all 
around  which  are  connected  with  his  memory.  Under  these 
blue  Italian  skies  the  little  Columbus  played,  and  this  lovely 
view  of  earth  and  sea  and  sky  doubtless  impressed  his 
imagination  and  nourished  the  poetic  germs  within  his  soul, 
which  made  him  the  great  discoverer  of  the  ages. 

As  we  mounted  to  the  heights  of  the  beautiful  park  and 
looked  off  over  the  housetops  at  the  l)lue  Mediterranean 
wimpling  and  dimpling  in  the  sunlight,  we  said  to  ourselves, 
*•  Upon  these  very  wavelets  looked  Columbus.  His  boyish 
eyes  were  strained  to  see  the  furthest  limits  bounded  by 
the  whitecaps  in  the  distance,  and  his  eager  imagination, 
perhaps,  as  he  stood  upon  this  very  height  of  land,  asked, 


578  ALONG  THE   RIVIERA. 

'  AYliat  is  beyond  the  limits  of  the  blue  sea  and  the  white- 
caps  which  bound  my  horizon  ''i '  "  The  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion, which  in  some  form  or  other  every  generous  youth  puts 
to  himself  as  he  grows  older,  was,  in  the  case  of  Columbus, 
the  discovery  of  America  and  the  opening  of  a  new  world 
to  commerce  and  civilization,  and  the  religion  of  Christ. 

After  leaving  Genoa  our  journey  took  us  along  the 
Riviera,  where  charming  views  are  marred  somewhat  by 
innumerable  tunnels  through  which  the  railroad  passes. 
Through  Nice  and  Mentone,  famous  the  world  over  as  win- 
tering places  for  the  aristocracy  of  Euro|)e,  through  Monte 
Carlo  and  Monaco,  the  plague  spot  of  Europe,  whose  wonder- 
ful natural  beauties  are  more  than  matched  by  the  unnatural 
depravity  of  its  chief  business ;  through  busy  Marseilles, 
through  IS'arbonne  and  Pau  and  Cette,  until  at  last  we  come 
to  the  very  borders  of  Spain,  and,  crossing  the  boundary 
line,  we  enter  into  the  country  of  the  haughty  cavalier. 

At  San  Sebastian,  one  of  the  border  towns,  which  is  most 
delightfully  situated  on  the  Bay  of  Biscay  with  green  hills 
surrounding  it  on  every  side,  is  the  new  palace  of  the  Queen 
of  Spain,  and  we  were  permitted  to  go  over  this  abode  of 
royalty  from  garret  to  cellar.  Though  it  is  a  fine  building 
and  worthy  of  the  gracious  queen  who  will  occupy  it  during 
the  summer  months,  yet  it  is  no  more  imposing  or  magnifi- 
cent than  the  houses  of  a  hundred  millionaires  which  I  have 
seen  in  the  United  States. 

Some  of  the  rooms  in  the  palace  are  designed  for  the 
occupancy  of  generals  in  the  army  and  the  courtiers,  and 
are  decidedly  mean  and  narrow.  They  are  plainly  furnished, 
only  a  few  feet  square,  and  frequently  have  but  one  window 
in  them.  The  room  which  her  Majesty  herself  is  to  occupy, 
and  the  adjoining  room  of  the  Baby  King  whose  face  appears 
on  all  Spanish  postage  stamps,  are  fine  apartments,  and  so 


A  LITTLE   king's   PASTIME.  579 

are  the  state  parlors  and  banqueting  rooms.  But  there  is 
nothing  extravagant  or  lavish,  or  even  particularly  sump- 
tuous, about  the  whole  place. 

The  most  notable  thing  about  the  palace  is  the  view  from 
the  front  entrance.  It  looks  out  upon  the  beautiful  Bay  of 
San  Sebastian,  with  a  broad,  sandy  beach  stretching  in  the 
foreground,  while  off  in  the  distance  is  the  entrance  to  the 
harbor  with  bold,  precipitous  bluffs  on  either  side,  crowned 
by  picturesque  forts  and  lighthouses.  The  queen  is  a  fa- 
mous athlete  in  her  way,  and  especially  enjoys  bathing  in 
the  surf.  So  strong  a  swimmer  is  she,  that  she  is  said  fre- 
quently to  swim  out  to  the  beautiful  island  in  the  bay,  a 
good  mile  from  the  shore.  The  little  king  meanwhile  plays 
upon  the  sand  with  his  painted  tin  pail  and  little  shovel,  at 
least  as  happy,  we  hope,  as  any  little  Spanish  ragamuffin 
whose  privileges  in  sand  and  water  and  fresh  air  and  de- 
lightful scenery  are  just  as  great  as  those  of  the  small  ro3^al 
personage  himself. 

The  object  of  supreme  interest  to  us  in  San  Sebastian, 
however,  was  not  the  palace  or  any  of  the  trappings  of 
royalty,  or  even  the  most  beautiful  bay  with  its  encircling 
mountains,  but  the  Institute  for  Spanish  girls  which  has  here 
been  planted  by  American  missionaries.  Here  are  gathered 
several  scores  of  black-eyed,  bright,  intelligent  Spanish 
maidens,  who  will  lead  the  wav  in  the  education  of  the 
women  of  this  countrv,  which  I  believe  is  about  to  awaken  to 
a  new  period  of  youth  and  vigor. 

Such  an  institution  is  particularly  needed  in  this  land,  for 
women  here,  as  in  every  Catholic  country,  have  been  system- 
atically kept  in  ignorance  and  bound  by  superstitious 
fears.  For  the  first  time  in  all  the  history  of  .Spain,  a  few 
months  ago,  some  of  the  girls  from  this  institution  dared  to 
present  themselves  for  examination  at  the  Government  uni- 

35 


580  "advanced   young   women"   in   SPAIN. 

versity,  competing  for  the  same  honors  which  their  brothers 
had  formerly  monopolized  altogether.  It  was  a  great  day 
for  the  American  Institute  for  Girls  and  a  prophetic  day  for 
Spain,  for  several  of  the  girls  passed  the  examinations  and 
came  off  with  flying  colors.  They  were  not  allowed  to  for- 
get, however,  that  they  belonged  to  an  inferior  sex,  for  as 
they  went  up  to  receive  their  diplomas  they  were  hissed  by 
the  unchivalrous  young  men.  This  ungracious  act,  however, 
reacted  on  the  heads  of  the  young  boors  who  perpetrated  it. 
The  professors  of  the  university  compelled  them  to  offer  a 
suitable  and  humble  ajX)logy  for  their  treatment  of  the  girls, 
and  the  precedent  was  established  that  hereafter,  in  some 
parts  of  Spain  at  least,  a  young  lady  of  intelligence  and 
attainments  will  be  recognized  by  the  educational  authorities 
of  the  land  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 

How  better  could  America  repay  the  debt  which  she 
owes  to  Spain  than  by  liberally  endowing  this  school, 
and  by  aiding  to  establish  others  for  the  education  of  the 
long-neglected  women  of  Castile? 

A  very  few  miles  from  San  Sebastian  is  the  old  Spanish 
seaport  of  Passages,  a  port  which  was  once  famous  in  its 
way,  and  from  which  Lafayette  slipped  away  when,  in 
opposition  to  the  wishes  of  the  government  and  his  friends, 
he  espoused  the  cause  of  American  liberty  and  decided  to 
stand  side  by  side  with  Washington  and  Franklin  and  Jeffer- 
son. For  many  years  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  has  been 
almost  impassable,  so  filled  up  has  it  become  with  the  silt 
washed  down  from  the  mountain  sides  which  hem  in  the 
narrow  passage  on  every  hand.  Of  late  years,  however,  new 
attention  has  been  paid  to  the  harbor,  dredging  machines 
have  made  an  entrance  for  steamers  of  considerable  size,  and 
the  old  place  is  renewing  its  youth. 

It  retains  its  ancient  characteristics,  however,  and  its  one 


A   CONSERVATIVE   OLD   TOWN,  581 

street  which  crawls  alonf?  at  the  base  of  the  hillside  against 
which  the  town  is  built  is  so  narrow  as  to  be  impassable  to 
wheeled  vehicles  and  to  afford  scarcely  room  for  two  passing 
donkeys.  Here  old  Spanish  customs  and  prejudices  flourish 
with  all  the  force  of  ancient  times,  just  as  though  the  thriv- 
ing, bustling,  modern  city  of  San  Sebastian  was  not  within 
hailing  distance.  Here  the  people  live,  move,  and  have  their 
being,  bake  their  bread  and  eat  their  garlic  and  wash  their 
clothes,  just  as  they  ditl  five  hundred  years  ago. 

The  latter  operation  is  performed  by  women  who  stand 
in  the  water  up  to  their  knees,  and  cold,  icy  spring  water  it 
is,  too,  while  they  pound  and  rub  and  beat  the  very  life  out 
of  their  garments  on  flat  stones  in  the  bed  of  the  stream.  A 
few  years  since,  the  town  provided  a  better  place  for  them, 
but  this  thoughtful  provision  almost  provoked  a  riot.  They 
declared  that  what  had  been  good  enough  for  their  grand- 
dams  w^as  good  enough  for  them,  that  they  would  have  none 
of  the  new-fangled,  modern  w^ash  tubs  even  though  they 
were  provided  at  public  expense,  and  that  they  w^ould  still 
stand  up  to  their  knees  in  water  if  they  chose  to  do  so. 
The  authorities  had  to  give  way,  and  the  new  and  beautiful 
stone  wash  tubs  fell  into  innocuous  desuetude. 

We  will  follow  Lafayette's  example,  and,  leaving  well- 
known  Paris  and  the  old  mother  country  to  those  who  have 
seen  and  described  them  so  often,  we  will  embark  for 
America  in  imagination  from  this  very  Spanish  port,  echoing 
the  sentiment  which  has  been  ringing  through  our  hearts  a 
hundred  thousand  times  during  this  long  journey,  that  no 
country  is  for  us  so  precious  as  the  land  over  which  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  wave,  and  that  nothing  about  going 
abroad  is  so  altogether  delightful  and  satisfactory  as  the 
getting  home  again. 


CHAPTEK  XXXI. 


OBJECTS  AND  RESULTS  OF  OUR  JOURNEY  —  THE  FAVORING 
HAND  OF  PROVIDENCE  — LOOKING  BACKWARD  — HAPPY 
MEMORIES. 

The  Great  Object  of  our  Journey  —  Australian  Conventions  —  Unbounded 
Enthusiasm  —  The  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  Pennant  —  Happy  Memories  —  In 
Marvelous  Japan  —  A  "  L'nited  Society  "  for  China  —  Among  the  Hin- 
dus —  Obstacles  in  Turkey  —  Forbidden  Words  —  Arresting  St.  Paul 

—  Black-Eyed  Spanish  Endeavorers  —  Encouragement  in  Paris  —  Good 
News  from  the  Mother  Laud  —  Steady  Growth  of  Endeavor  Societies  — 
Impressions  of  Missionaries  and  Their  Work —  Cruel  Misrepresentations 

—  Globe  Trotters'  Slanders  —  A  Diversity  of  Gifts  —  What  are  the 
Hardships  of  a  Missionary  to-day?  —  The  Most  Hopeful  Feature  of  Mod- 
ern Civilization  —  The  Anglo-Saxon  Missionary  and  His  Noble  Work  — 
Saving  the  World  through  Jesus  Christ. 

HE  great  object  of  the  journey 
which  has  been  described  in  the 
previous  chapters,  was  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  Christian  En- 
deavor movement  in  foreign 
countries,  and  the  visiting  of 
missionary  stations  in  heathen 
and  Mohammedan  lands,  for  the 
purpose  of  acquainting  members 
of  these  societies  in  America 
more  thoroughly  with  the  needs 
and    privileges    of    missionary 

work  all  the  world  over. 

In  every  particular,  the  journey  has  been  more  blessed  of 

Providence  and  prospered  by  God's  favoring  hand  than  I 

dared  to  believe  would  be  possible  when  we  undertook  it. 

(582) 


ENTHUSIASTIC   AUSTRALIANS.  583 

Ko  accident  or  serious  detention  or  illness  delayed  us  during 
our  year  of  travel.  No  appointment  was  missed,  no  address 
failed  to  be  delivered  among  the  two  hundred  and  fifty 
which  made  the  year  such  a  busy  one.  Everywhere  the 
Christian  Endeavor  idea  was  received  with  surprising  favor. 

To  be  sure,  we  went  only  where  we  were  asked  to  go,  and 
addressed  meetings  that  had  been  previously  arranged  by 
kind  friends.  And  yet  with  all  these  favoring  circumstances, 
I  did  not  dare  to  hope  for  such  enthusiastic  conventions,  such 
eager  throngs  of  earnest  young  men  and  women,  and  such 
large  favor  as  was  accorded  to  this  youngest  child  of  the 
church.  The  Young  People's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

In  Australia  the  conventions  were,  beyond  all  precedent, 
large,  enthusiastic,  and  inspiring.  The  greatest  audience 
rooms  that  could  be  obtained  in  such  places  as  Melbourne, 
Ballarat,  Adelaide,  and  Brisbane,  were  crowded  to  thdir 
utmost,  and  the  spirituality  and  intense  earnestness  and  devo- 
tion of  the  conventions  were  quite  as  noticeable  as  the  large 
throngs  which  attended  them.  The  conventions  usually  be- 
gan, practically  if  not  formally,  at  the  railway  stations,  which 
were  usually  crowded  with  singing  Endeavorers  when  we 
arrived,  and  who  carried  their  good  cheer  and  gladness  and 
contagious  enthusiasm  with  them  wherever  they  went. 

Even  the  railway  officials  and  the  city  authorities  of  the 
town  often  seemed  to  catch  the  spirit  of  enthusiastic  youth, 
and  accorded  us  courtesies  and  kindly  consideration  which 
were  far  beyond  the  merits  of  the  humble  individuals  who 
came  to  advocate  the  claims  of  Christian  Endeavor ;  and  yet 
we  realized  from  the  beginning  of  our  journey  to  the  end, 
that  not  the  individuals  who  brought  the  message,  but  the 
society  which  they  represented,  was  honored,  and  every 
greeting  and  welcome  and  hearty  hand-grasp  told  chiefly  of 
the  love  which  the  young  people  and  their  pastors  and  their 


684  A   SIGNIFICANT  WELCOME. 

fathers  and  mothers  had  for  this  new  agency  which  God  has 
raised  up  ''  For  Christ  and  the  Church." 

One  of  the  most  significant  of  these  welcomes,  and  one 
whose  kindly  thoughtfulness  we  shall  never  forget,  greeted 
us  when  first  we  reached  the  bluff  headlands  of  Sydney 
harbor,  where  we  saw  a  steam  launch  approaching  our 
steamer,  flying  two  pennants,  from  one  masthead  the  Stars 
and  Stripes,  and  from  another  a  flag  bearing  the  letters 
"  Y,  P.  S.  C.  E."  From  that  moment  to  the  day  when,  six 
weeks  later,  we  sailed  from  the  harbor  of  Brisbane  for  the 
port  of  Hong  Kong,  when  the  last  sound  that  we  heard  was 
the  sweet  music  of  Brisbane  Endeavorers,  singing,  "  God  be 
with  you  till  we  meet  again,"  every  hour  was  crowded  with 
pleasant  experiences,  and  lives  as  a  happy  memory  of  the 
great  Island  Continent. 

During  the  months  which  have  elapsed  between  that  \asit 
and  the  date  of  the  publication  of  this  book.  Christian 
Endeavor  Societies  have  multiplied  at  a  most  gratifying  rate 
throughout  all  the  colonies,  until  now  there  are  probably  at 
least  seven  hundred  societies  in  this  group  of  sister  nations 
which  lie  under  the  Southern  Cross,  while  their  numbers 
are  increasing  quite  as  rapidly  in  the  land  whose  people  look 
up  at  the  familiar  constellations  of  Orion  and  the  Great  Bear. 

In  the  mighty  land  of  Asia  with  its  uncounted  millions, 
in  Japan,  China,  and  India,  we  found  a  large  and  most  en- 
couraging field  also  for  the  growth  of  Christian  Endeavor 
societies.  In  Japan,  that  marvelous  new  land  which  is 
springing  forward  by  leaps  and  bounds  into  the  family  of 
great  nations,  there  are  already  some  forty  Endeavor  soci- 
eties established  in  connection  with  the  missions  of  the 
various  Protestant  denominations.  Several  little  booklets 
have  been  translated  into  Japanese  and  widely  circulated, 
and   much  hope   is   expressed   by   missionaries   and   native 


OUR  WORK   IN   INDIA  AND   CHINA.  585 

pastors  of  the  future  efficiency  of  this  new  agency  of  Chris- 
tian nurture. 

In  China  a  United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  has 
been  established  witli  its  headquarters  at  Shanghai.  The 
constitution  and  other  literature  has  been  translated  into 
several  dialects,  and  two  or  three  largely  circulated  Chinese 
papers  give  constant  attention,  by  means  of  special  depart- 
ments, to  the  work  of  the  society  and  its  possibilities  in  the 
Flowery  Kingdom. 

In  India  much  satisfactory  work  is  being  planned  and 
executed.  The  constitution  of  the  society  has  been  trans- 
lated into  Tamil  and  Telugu  and  Bengali  and  Hindustani 
and  Marathi.  Many  vigorous  societies  already  exist  in  con- 
nection with  various  missions,  and  it  is  hoped  that  a  multi- 
tude of  struggling  communities  of  Christians  and  out- 
stations  where  only  a  few  can  be  gathered  together,  and 
where  there  are  not  a  sufficient  number  of  Christians  to  form 
a  regular  church,  an  organization  of  this  sort  with  its  pledge 
and  its  obligations  of  voluntary  religious  service  may  do 
much  in  the  way  of  establishing  firm  and  steadfast  the 
much-tried  faith  of  the  new  converts. 

In  Turkey  all  religious  work  meets  with  greater  obstacles 
than  in  any  other  land  at  the  present  time,  and  the  Christian 
Endeavor  Society  comes  in  for  its  full  share  of  persecution 
and  opposition.  Many  societies  have  been  broken  up,  and 
many  others  which  would  have  been  formed  have  been 
delayed  because  of  the  threatening  attitude  of  the  govern- 
ment toward  every  possible  plan  for  the  union  of  young 
people  in  religious  work, 

A  humorous  story  is  told  to  the  effect  that  a  copy  of  the 
Epistle  of  Paul  to  the  Galatians  was  submitted  to  the 
Turkish  censor  for  his  inspection.  He  was  at  once  greatly 
alarmed  and  incensed  thereby,  for  he  interpreted  it  as  being 


586  A  HUMOROUS   STORY. 

a  letter  to  the  inhabitants  of  Galata,  which  is  one  of  the 
divisions  into  which  the  modern  city  of  Constantinople  is 
divided.  In  his  hot  wrath  he  at  once  sent  a  constable  to  the 
mission  to  apprehend  this  agitator  Paul  who  was  writing  in- 
cendiary letters  to  the  people  of  Galata.  When  told  that 
the  said  Paul  had  been  dead  for  fully  1800  years,  and  that 
he  could  not  answer  to  the  summons  of  the  Turkish  govern- 
ment, and  that  all  the  people  to  whom  he  wrote  had 
also  been  in  their  graves  for  almost  two  milleniums,  his 
wrath  cooled  somewhat,  and  he  concluded  to  dismiss  his 
posse  of  constables  without  arresting  the  apostle. 

This  story  simply  shows,  as  do  other  instances  which 
were  related  in  previous  chapters,  the  absurd  prejudices  and 
stupid  ignorance  with  which  religious  work  of  all  kinds  has 
to  contend  in  the  Ottoman  Empire,  and  the  end  of  many  of 
these  stories  is  more  tragic  than  humorous. 

Still,  in  spite  of  these  obstacles,  Christian  Endeavor  work 
and  all  other  kinds  of  Christian  enterprise  are  holding  on  their 
way,  waiting  and  hoping  for  better  times  in  the  Dominion  of 
the  Turk. 

In  Spain,  we  found  among  the  Spanish  girls  and  their 
teachers  enthusiastic  Endeavorers,  and  these  girls  will  carry 
the  plans  and  methods  of  the  society,  as  they  finish  their 
education  and  return  to  their  home,  into  all  parts  of  the 
ancient  kingdom  of  Castile. 

In  France,  too,  we  found  very  much  to  encourage  us.  A 
large  mass  meeting  drawn  from  the  seven  Christian  En- 
deavor societies  of  Paris,  whose  numbers  have  since  been 
multiplied,  greeted  us  in  the  hall  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and 
hundreds  of  French  Protestant  pastors  and  religious  workers 
came  together  in  one  of  the  halls  of  the  McCall  mission  to 
talk  over  the  adaptabilities  of  Christian  Endeavor  to  their 
work  and  workers. 


MEMORABLE    MEETINGS.  587 

My  visit  to  England  on  this  occasion,  which  is  not  re- 
corded in  the  chapters  of  this  book,  since  it  is  so  difficult  to 
find  "fresh  fields  and  pastures  new"  in  the  well-traveled  soil 
of  the  mother  country,  was  the  third  which  I  have  made 
within  the  last  few  years  in  the  interests  of  the  Christian 
Endeavor  movement,  and  was  by  far  the  most  encouraging 
of  all. 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  speaking  to  large  and  enthusiastic 
audiences  in  London,  Birmingham,  Manchester,  Ipswich, 
Glasgow,  Belfast,  Chester,  and  Liverpool,  and  of  attending 
the  third  annual  Christian  Endeavor  convention  of  the 
British   societies  —  an   admirable   and  memorable  meetino-. 

o 

Everywhere  I  found  the  same  spirit,  devotion,  and  loyal  zeal 
which  I  am  accustomed  to  find  in  America,  and  everywhere 
pastors  gave  me  their  assurance,  that  though  the  growth  of 
the  society  was  less  rapid  at  first  than  in  its  home-land,  it 
was  destined  to  do  no  less  good  and  to  become  quite  as  im- 
portant a  factor  in  church  life  in  England  as  in  America. 

Within  a  year  of  the  time  of  this  last  visit,  the  societies 
have  multiplied  from  less  than  three  hundred  to  nearly  seven 
hundred ;  strong  Christian  Endeavor  Unions  have  been  estab- 
lished in  most  of  the  leading  centers  of  population,  and  the 
outlook  for  the  future  was  never  so  bright  as  to-day. 

I  must  add,  in  a  few  words,  my  general  impression  in  re- 
gard to  missionary  work  the  world  over ;  for  to  rectify  and 
clarify  and  intensify  these  impressions  in  my  own  mind  and 
the  minds  of  others  who  might  read  or  hear  of  this  journey, 
was  one  great  object  for  whigh  it  was  undertaken.  I  rejoice 
to  say,  that  with  every  mile  of  the  journey  my  belief  in  mis- 
sions and  missionary  work  has  been  strengthened,  my  love 
for  the  missionaries  increased,  and  my  confidence  in  the  final 
triumph  of  the  religion  of  Christ  throughout  all  the  world 
has  been  more  surely  established. 


588  MISREPRESENTATIONS   OF   SHALLOW   CRITICS. 

Many  and  cruel  inisrepresentations  of  missionaries  and 
missionary  worlc  iind  voice  in  the  press,  and  in  the  comments 
of  returned  travelers  who  often  return  to  their  own  land 
hostile  and  abusive  of  missionary  work.  I  have  paid  my  re- 
spects to  these  globe-trotters  more  than  once  in  the  course  of 
these  chapters,  and  no  language  is  too  strong  with  whicli  to 
score  their  superficial  and  utterly  false  estimates  of  mission- 
ary service. 

These  unsympathetic  travelers  who  live  in  luxury  and 
comfort  at  home,  who  go  abroad  simply  for  their  own  con- 
venience and  pleasure,  who  have  never  sacrificed  a  dollar  for 
the  advancement  of  the  cause  of  Christ,  presume  to  criticize 
with  vulgar  sneers  these  brave  soldiers  of  the  Cross  who  have 
given  up  home  and  native  land  and  dear  friends,  and  many 
of  them  brilliant  prospects  in  life,  for  the  love  which  they 
bear  the  Master  and  the  men  for  whom  He  died.  Patience 
ceases  to  be  a  virtue  when  one  considers  these  shallow  critics 
of  men  whose  shoe  latchets  they  are  not  worthy  to  unloose. 
To  be  sure,  missionaries  differ  as  good  men  differ  everywhere 
else  in  intellectual  capacities,  in  natural  gifts,  in  education, 
and  in  devotion.  Some  are  far  more  efficient  than  others. 
Some  are  more  wholly  given  to  their  work  than  their  fellow 
missionaries,  and  some  are  more  successful  and  have  larger 
results  to  show  for  the  time  and  money  and  force  which  they 
expend  in  foreign  lands. 

But  this  is  only  saying  what  is  equally  true  of  ministers 
and  Christian  people  at  home.  There  is  a  diversity  of  gifts, 
but  it  is  also  true  that  a  genuine  spirit  of  loyalty  to  Christ 
and  of  love  to  men,  and  a  desire  to  lift  them  up,  in  everyway 
pervades  the  ranks  of  missionaries  of  the  cross  in  all  lands, 
and  is  their  one  controlling  motive.  During  the  past  year  I 
have  visited  these  faithful  men  and  women  in  China  and 
Japan,  in  Northern  India  and  in  Southern  India,  in  the  Sand- 


MISSIONARIES   AND   THEIR   WORK.  589 

wich  Islands  and  Samoa,  in  Egypt  and  Syria,  in  Turkey, 
Greece,  France,  and  Spain,  and  without  hesitation  I  can  say 
no  nobler,  more  devoted,  self-sacrificing,  and  intelligent  body 
of  men  and  women  has  it  ever  been  my  privilege  to  meet  in 
any  land.  In  wit  and  worth,  in  intellectual  capacity  and 
administrative  ability,  in  intelligence  and  in  a  large,  states- 
manlike grasp  of  the  situation,  their  numbers  cannot  be 
duplicated,  I  believe,  in  any  walk  of  life. 

They  are,  for  the  most  part,  well-equipped  before  they 
leave  home  ;  they  have  been  broadened  by  travel,  polished  by 
contact  with  many  men  of  many  minds,  sweetened  by  love 
and  devotion  to  Christ,  ennobled  by  supreme  and  lofty  life 
purposes,  and  are  men  and  women  who  are  fit  to  stand 
before  kings,  for  they  have  felt  the  ennobling  touch  of  ser- 
vice for  the  King  of  Kings. 

Much  of  the  misapprehension  of  missionary  work  arises 
from  the  fact  that  the  difficulties  and  hardships  are  not  in 
these  days  as  they  were  at  first,  largely  physical  and  mate- 
rial. Few  missionaries  now  suffer  for  lack  of  sufficient  food 
or  good  clothes  or  convenient  shelter.  Some  of  them  live 
almost  as  comfortably  as  they  would  live  at  home,  and  their 
abodes,  clothing,  and  table  fare  are  above  the  average  of  the 
debased  tribes  among  whom  many  of  them  work.  This  dif- 
ference of  social  condition  has  given  rise  to  many  of  the 
cruel  jibes  of  unsympathetic  and  slanderous  travelers,  who 
accuse  the  missionaries  of  living  in  stately  style  in  palaces, 
while  their  converts  grovel  in  miserable  hovels. 

But  the  object  of  the  missionary,  as  I  understand  it,  is  to 
lift  his  convert  out  of  the  hovel,  and  not  to  degrade  himself 
to  the  level  of  the  heathen.  "While  it  is  true  that  the  average 
missionary  lives  for  the  most  part  in  comparative  comfort,  it 
is  not  true  that  he  lives  extravag-antlv  or  lavishly.  He  is 
always  willing  to  go  down  among  people  for  whom  he  works; 


590 


LAST   WORDS. 


he  is  willing  to  -wear  their  clothes,  eat  their  coarse  fare,  and 
live  in  their  filthy  huts,  if  necessary,  and  he  often  does  all 
these  and  more ;  at  the  same  time  he  is  constantly  trvino^  to 
raise  the  people  unto  whom  he  has  been  sent  to  a  higher 
level  of  respectability  and  Christian  manhood. 

I  am  glad  to  have  my  last  words  in  this  book  testify  to 
the  fact  that  missionary  work  of  all  the  various  Protestant 
denominations  in  all  parts  of  the  world  is,  in  my  eyes,  the 
most  promising  and  hopeful  feature  of  modern  civilization. 
For  the  enlargement  of  commerce,  for  the  spread  of  civiliza- 
tion, for  the  uplifting  of  humanity,  for  the  redemption  of  the 
world,  there  is  no  such  force  as  that  which  is  exerted  by  the 
Anglo-Saxon  missionaries  of  the  Cross,  the  ministers  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


p 


Wa 


0  d^ov 


:.r  a  special  photograph, expre3slyf0r  this  work  . 
;  ubushe;  ;:-;. 


INTRODUCTORY. 


kHEX  a  man  and  a  woman  are 
jom-neying  "  Around  the  World  " 
together  they  are  likely  to  see 
all  things  through  different 
glasses.  The  man  may,  per- 
haps, have  a  clearer  vision  and  a 
wider  outlook;  but  the  woman, 
with  more  leisure,  and  with 
more  opportunities  in  some  di- 
rections because  she  is  a  woman, 
will  notice  little  things  which 
have  escaped  the  larger  vision, 
and  yet  are  none  the  less  interesting. 

It  is  with  the  hope  that  some  of  the  experiences  and 
observations  of  an  American  woman  in  strange  lands  may 
be  interesting  to  her  sisters  in  the  home-land,  that  she  has 
ventured  to  present  these  glimpses  of  life  and  scenes  among 
the  women  and  children  of  other  countries  than  ours,  as 
they  appeared  to  her. 


(593) 


^O/yvi^^^'  ^/ta/rn^ 


^t  f^l 


B0  Seen  ^brougb  a  THaoman's  Bges. 
CHAPTER  I. 

A  WOMAN'S  LIFE  AT  SEA  — HOUSEKEEPIXG  IN  A  FLOATING 
PRISON  — LIFE   UNDER  THE   SOUTHERN  CROSS. 

At  Sea — Housekeeping  on  a  Small  Scale  —  Daily  Life  in  a  Floating 
Prison  —  A  Consoling  Stewardess  —  Tea  and  Toast  in  a  Stateroom  — 
A  Bed  that  Never  Kept  Still  —  Lucid  Intervals  —  Moving  into  a  New 
Home  —  Arranging  our  Belongings  —  Going  to  Housekeeping  Eighteen 
Times  in  One  Year  —  The  Back  Yard  of  an  Ocean  Steamer  —  Sighing  for 
a  Pine  Stump  —  A  Chinese  Steward,  A  Malay  Quartermaster,  and  an 
English  Captain  — Life  on  the  Chingtu  —  Under  the  Southern  Cross  — 
A  Velvet-footed  Steward  —  Doleful  wrsus  Pleasant  Memories. 


|OTr  many  ^^leasant  memories  of 
our  life  on  ocean  steamers  come 
back  to  me  as  I  write!  After 
traveling  for  weeks  on  land,  liv- 
ing in  trunks  meanwhile,  stop- 
ping two  days  in  this  place  and 
one  in  the  next,  a  homelike  feel- 
ing always  came  over  me  when 
we  moved  our  worldly  posses- 
sions into  the  little  stateroom  of 
a  steamer  and  settled  down  to 
housekeeping  for  a  few  days. 
To  be  sure,  it  was  housekeeping  on  a  small  scale,  but  only 
think  of  the  delight  of  havina-  one  room  that  vou  can  call 
vour  very  own  for  eio-ht  or  ten  or  twelve  days,  and  on  one 
occasion  even  for  twenty-four  days.     Just  think  of  it,  O  ye 

(595) 


596  RESTFUL   DAYS. 

housekeepers,  who  can  spread  your  possessions  over  a  whole 
house  and  keep  them  there  all  the  time,  with  never  a 
thought  of  change  save  that  of  ])leasing  your  own  fancy. 

Life  and  travel  on  land  was  usually  a  rush,  a  hurry,  and 
bustle;  conventions  and  tea  meetings,  sight-seeing,  recep- 
tions and  visiting,  wrestling  with  trunks,  waiting  at  railroad 
stations,  changing  cars,  whirling  through  city  streets  in 
jinrikishas,  or  jolting  in  jutkahs,  led  us  a  busy  life  on  shore. 
How  welcome  the  change  to  an  ocean  steamer  and  the 
prospect  of  a  sea  voyage,  long  or  short,  after  four  or  five  of 
such  busy  weeks  I  How  quiet  it  seemed,  as  we  pushed  the 
steamer  trunk  under  the  berth,  after  taking  out  the  favorite 
articles  that  would  be  wanted  first  and  disposing  of  them  in 
different  places!  To  be  sure,  my  wrapper  was  usually  the 
first  thing  needed,  and  my  berth  the  first  place  I  sought, 
but  what  of  that !  After  the  bustle  and  confusion  on  land, 
was  it  not  restful  to  spend  a  few  days  in  perfect  quiet  on 
the  berth  or  the  lounge  'i  As  for  food,  what  could  be  more 
soothing  than  the  cup  of  tea  and  the  slice  of  cold  toast 
served  by  the  hands  of  the  stewardess  three  times  a  day. 
"What  could  be  more  comforting  than  her  assurance  that 
'•  the  sea  is  growing  smoother  and  probably  it  will  be  quite 
calm  by  to-morrow."  True  there  are  no  visible  indications 
that  the  sea  is  growing  calmer,  and  you  think  it  is  quite 
probable  that  she  only  says  it  is  from  a  desire  to  make  herself 
agreeable;  still,  it  is  a  comfort  to  have  her  say  so,  even  if 
you  do  not  believe  it.  All  this  may  suggest  rather  a  doubt- 
ful kind  of  rest,  but  it  ivas  rest  nevertheless,  and  I  always 
looked  forward  longingly  to  my  floating  prison. 

Besides,  I  frequently  had  lucid  intervals  when  I  could  go 
on  deck  and  enjoy  life  with  the  rest  of  the  party  that  made 
up  our  little  world.  There  were  days  when  the  sea  was 
calm  and  peaceful  and  I  could  promenade  up  and  down  the 


THANKFUL  FOR   SMALL   FAVORS.  597 

deck,  and  sing  in  my  heart  that  old  tune  our  fathers  and 
mothers  sung  years  ago, 

"  Fly  like  a  youthful  lia-a-art  or  roe, 
Over  the  hi-i-i-ils  where  sp-i-i-i-ces  grow." 

There  were  rough  and  stormy  da^^s,  it  is  true,  when  the 
ship  tossed  and  pitched,  and  I  lay  on  my  back  in  my  berth 
with  closed  eyes,  and  sighed,  "  Oh,  for  a  lodge  in  some  vast 
wilderness,"  or,  "Oh,  that  I  had  wings  like  a  dove."  But 
even  this  was  an  episode,  and  if  the  voyage  was  long  a  few 
days  of  seasickness  now  and  then  served  to  break  the  monot- 
ony. Think  of  this,  ye  weary  housekeepers,  who  can  take 
your  rest  every  night,  and  every  day  if  you  will,  in  a  bed 
and  keep  still,  and  in  a  room  which  boasts  at  least  one  good- 
sized  window ! 

If  I  have  learned  nothing  else  in  this  long  journey  I  have 
learned  to  be  thankful  for  small  mercies. 

There  was  always  a  pleasant  excitement  in  going  on 
board  a  steamer  and  starting  on  a  new  vovage.  Where  was 
our  stateroom  situated  I  Was  it  an  outside  room  ?  Was  it 
on  the  pleasant  side  of  the  ship,  where  we  could  have  the 
port  open  ?  How  far  was  it  from  the  dining-room  and  how 
far  from  my  seat  at  table?  How  many  seconds  would  it 
take  to  go  from  the  table  to  my  berth  if  I  should  suddenly 
decide  that  I  did  not  want  any  breakfast  ? 

Then  came  the  pleasure  of  unpacking  our  goods  and 
settling  down  to  housekeeping  again.  It  was  like  moving 
into  a  new  house.  We  looked  about  to  see  how  large  the 
stateroom  was,  what  conveniences  it  possessed,  and  con- 
sidered how  to  make  the  most  of  them.  This  berth  shall  be 
mv  room ;  this  net  which  holds  so  manv  little  things  shall 
be  my  bureau ;  this  hook  shall  be  my  wardrobe,  or  "  almira," 
as  they  call  it  in  India.  Perliaps  I  can  even  have  two  hooks. 
This  trunk  will  make  a  good  divan  when  it  is  pulled  out 

36 


598  HOUSEKEEPING   AT   SEA. 

from  under  the  berth,  and  it  can  b6  pushed  under  again 
when  it  is  not  wanted.  This  lounge  shall  be  the  spare  room, 
for  the  use  of  the  family,  or  for  an  occasional  guest.  This 
little  shelf  under  the  glass  shall  be  the  dressing-table,  and 
this  camp  stool  the  easy  chair.  This  narrow  space  between 
the  berths  and  the  lounge  will  hardly  do  for  the  parlor,  but 
perhaps  we'll  call  it  the  hall,  and,  when  the  divan  is  pulled 
out,  it  will  do  for  the  family  sitting-room.  "  Now  we  are  all 
settled,"  as  a  certain  small  boy,  the  little  pilgrim  of  the 
party,  always  said  when  he  had  everything  arranged  to  his 
satisfaction,  and  we  were  ready  to  sail. 

It  is  not  everyone  who  has  the  ])rivilege  of  going  to 
housekeeping  eighteen  times  in  the  course  of  one  year,  and 
each  time  in  a  different  laud,  or,,  rather,  on  a  different  sea. 
The  spirit  moves  me  to  write  a  whole  chapter  on  the  Yellow 
Sea,  and  a  doleful  chapter  it  would  be,  I  am  afraid.  I  would 
like  to  write  a  chapter  on  '*  Housekeeping  at  the  Equator," 
or  "  Life  on  the  TchicJMtckoff,^'  or  "  At  Home  on  the  Arafura 
Sea,"  or  "  Days  in  the  Doldrums,"  but  a  compassionate  spirit 
comes  over  me  and  I  forbear. 

A  certain  traveler,  who  has  recorded  his  experiences, 
speaks  in  praise  of  the  one  steamer  on  which  he  traveled,  and 
his  delio-ht  in  coming'  back  alwavs  to  the  same  steamer  and 
the  same  traveling  companions  ;  but  his  experience  was  not 
ours,  and  to  us  a  change  of  steamers  seemed  much  pleasanter. 
Perhaps,  however,  this  may  not  decide  the  question,  but  may 
only  serve  to  show  a  commendable  desire,  both  on  his  part 
and  on  ours,  to  be  content  in  whatever  state  (or  steamer)  one 
is  compelled  to  take,  and  to  accept  the  gifts  the  gods  provide 
and  be  thankful.  Suppose  your  stateroom  is  small,  and  on 
the  wrong  side  of  the  ship  so  that  the  ports  must  often  be 
closed.  Xever  mind,  you  will  have  better  fortune  next 
time,  and  "  it's  an  ill  wind  that  blows  nobody  good."     Sup- 


THE   BACK   YARD    OF   A   SHIP.  599 

pose  your  fellow  passengers  are  not  the  most  agreeable  people 
in  the  world?  I^ever  mind,  they  are  only  going  on  this 
voyage,  and  you  will  leave  them  at  the  next  port.  Suppose, 
on  the  other  hand,  that  they  are  all  very  agreeable  people, 
and  you  are  sorry  to  leave  them.  ]^ever  mind,  you  Avill 
make  other  delightful  acquaintances  on  the  next  steamer, 
and  we  shall  be  sure  to  meet  them  again,  sometime,  some- 
where ;  and  oh,  how  many  delightful  friends  we  shall  have 
before  the  year  is  over  !  Suppose  you  do  not  find  the  talkie 
or  the  service  quite  satisfactory.  Never  mind,  they  are  sure 
to  be  better  next  time. 

Think,  too,  of  the  delights  of  keeping  house  in  a  different 
place  each  da}".  Oh,  tired  housekeeper  in  the  dear  home- 
land, did  you  ever  weary  of  looking  out  upon  the  same 
sights  day  after  day  ?  Did  you  ever  get  tired  of  the  tree  in 
front  of  your  kitchen  window  and  wish  it  were  a  post  or  a 
rock,  a  flower-bed  or  a  fountain ':'  Did  vou  ever  wearv  of 
lookino-  into  your  neighbor's  back  yard?  Then  vou  will 
understand  how  delightful  it  is  to  find  vour  house  in  a  new 
place  every  morning.  If  you  do  not  like  your  front  yard 
to-day,  you  can  console  yourself  with  the  thought  that  it 
will  be  your  back  yard  to-morrow.  If  you  are  not  pleased 
with  the  Banda  Sea  this  week,  you  know  you  will  have  the 
Sulu  Sea  next  week.  If  Thursday  Island  does  not  suit  you, 
wait  a  day  or  two  and  you  can  have  Friday  Island,  or 
Saturday  Island. 

It  is  true  that  all  water  looks  very  much  alike,  whether 
it  is  the  Yellow  Sea  or  the  Bosphorus,  but  then  you  can 
always  assure  yourself  that  it  is  not  the  same,  and  that  you 
are  looking  out  upon  a  different  place  from  yesterday. 

I  must  confess  to  an  occasional  wild  desire  to  tie  our 
house  to  a  tree  somewhere,  and  keep  it  still  for  a  little  while, 
and  to  certain  unappeased  longings  for  an  old  stump  that  I 


GOO  A  MOTLEY   CREW. 

have  often  looked  upon  as  a  tlisfiguring  blot  upon  the  land- 
scape. There  were  days  when  I  should  have  considered  that 
stump  "  a  thing  of  beauty  and  a  joy  forever,"  if  I  could  have 
been  set  down  suddenly  beside  it.  However,  this  only  goes 
to  show  what  discontented  creatures  we  mortals  are.  When 
we  have  a  stump  we  sigh  for  something  else,  and  when  we 
have  something  else  we  pine  for  a  stump.     Such  is  life ! 

I  remember  three  or  four  different  steamers  Avhich 
seemed  to  me  particularly  delightful.  I  shall  never  forget 
the  day  1  climbed  up  from  the  Tarshaio  —  3i  little  steam-tug 
that  had  brought  us  out  from  Brisbane  —  over  a  high  railino- 
and  down  on  to  the  deck  of  the  Chmgtu,  thence  into  our 
stateroom,  which  was  to  be  our  home  for  three  weeks.  We 
were  all  tired  after  a  long  series  of  meetings  for  nearly  six 
wrecks,  and  the  prospect  of  rest  was  comforting.  As  we 
arranged  our  household  effects  in  the  little  stateroom,  w^hat 
a  delightful  feeling  of  peace  and  quietness  came  over  us! 
^o  more  meetings,  no  more  hurrying  to  catch  a  train,  no 
more  packing  and  unpacking,  nothing  to  do  but  to  rest  and 
keep  house  for  three  weeks  with  everything  neAv  and 
interesting,  for  the  steward  of  the  Chingtu  was  a  Chinaman, 
the  quartermaster  was  a  Malay,  the  captain  was  an  English- 
man, with  a  general  disregard  of  his  h's,  and  the  passengers 
were  mostly  Chinese. 

Nothing  can  be  more  delightful  than  early  morning  in 
the  tropics.  After  the  hot  night  in  the  little  stateroom 
below  it  was  refreshing  to  go  up  on  the  cool  deck,  and, 
reclining  lazily  in  a  steamer  chair,  look  off  upon  the  land  and 
sea,  for  we  were  inside  the  Great  Barrier  reef  and  were 
almost  always  in  sight  of  land.  Often  a  soft  footfall  on 
deck  announced  John  Chinaman,  our  table  steward,  bringing 
a  cup  of  delicious  tea  and  some  dainty  little  pieces  of  toast, 
hot,  crisp,  nicely  buttered,  and  tempting  to   the  appetite. 


DAILY   LIFE  AT   SEA.  601 

At  half-past  eight  came  breakfast  in  the  cool  dining-saloon, 
with  punkahs  moving  briskly  to  make  a  breeze,  and  Chinese 
stewards,  in  their  white  jackets,  flitting  about  the  room 
attending  to  the  wants  of  the  passengers. 

The  forenoons  always  passed  quickly  with  reading  and 
writing  and  sewing,  for  this  was  an  easy,  lazy  kind  of  house- 
keeping with  no  household  cares  to  attend  to.  Before  it 
seemed  possible  that  it  could  be  so  late  would  come  the  call 
to  tiffin,  and  we  were  always  ready  to  respond,  for  there  is 
nothing  like  a  sea  breeze  to  give  one  an  appetite.  Then  an 
afternoon  nap,  a  game  or  two  of  quoits  on  deck,  a  little  writ- 
ing, and,  almost  before  we  know  it,  it  is  "  eight  bells,"  and 
John  Chinaman  again  appears  with  more  tea  and  toast. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem,  we  are  ready  for  it  again,  and  the 
tea  is  so  good  and  the  toast  so  hot  and  so  daintily  served 
that  it  would  tempt  the  poorest  appetite. 

Ding,  dong, — two  bells.  Can  it  be  five  o'clock  ?  Almost 
dinner  time,  and  we  have  only  time  enough  for  a  little 
promenade. 

How  delightful  the  cool,  evening  breeze,  and  what  a 
gorgeous  sunset  I  If  morning  in  the  tropics  is  always 
beautiful,  the  loner,  moonlig-ht  evening-s  on  the  steamer's 
deck  are  no'  less  so,  with  the  Southern  Cross  looking  down 
upon  us  !  It  was  hard  to  realize  on  those  warm  summer 
evenino-s  that  our  friends  at  home  were  shiverino^  in  the  chill 
JSTovember  blast,  while  we  sat  lazily  in  our  steamer  chairs 
enjoying  the  cool  soft  air  and  dreading  the  descent  into  our 
stuffy  little  stateroom. 

Then  there  was  the  Emijress  of  China  with  its  large, 
convenient  staterooms,  which  seemed  to  us  like  palatial 
apartments,  with  its  broad,  shady  decks,  and  little  English 
children  running  about  under  the  care  of  their  Chinese 
Ammahs,     There  was  the  Japanese  steamer,  the  Yokohama 


602 


MEMORIES   OF   OUR   LIFE   AT   SEA. 


Maru,  on  which  we  spent  such  a  dismal  Christmas  on  the 
Yellow  Sea,  and  the  Feru^  which  carried  us  safely  through 
a  Typhoon  on  Thanksgiving  eve,  and  the  Russian  steamer 
Tchichatchoff,  one  of  the  very  pleasantest  steamers  of  them 
all,  and  the  Victoria,  and  many  others  which  might  be 
mentioned.  All  of  these  floating  homes  of  ours  have  pleas- 
ant memories  connected  with  them,  besides  not  a  few  gloomy 
ones.  What  a  fortunate  thing  it  is  that  the  doleful  memories 
fade  away  and  only  the  bright  ones  linger. 


'^"^dk 


CHAPTER  11. 

AMONG  THE  WOMEX  AND  CHILDREN  OF  JAPAN  — A  JAPAN- 
ESE PRAYER  MEETING  — NATIVE  POLITENESS  AND  ETI- 
QUETTE—MY EXPERIENCE  WITH  CHOPSTICKS. 

Compensations  —  The  Brown  Babies  of  India  —  The  Yellow  Babies  of 
Japan—  Queensland  Lucy  —  A  Forlorn  Little  Black  Girl  —  The  Hottest 
Place  on  Earth  —  Home  Life  in  Japan  —  Going  to  Prayer  Meeting  in  a 
Jinrikisha  —  A  Shuffling,  Awkward  Gait — Where  AVe  Left  Our  Shoes 

—  Japanese  Etiquette  —  A  Cordial   Welcome  —  Bowing   to  the  Floor 

—  "  Rock  of  Ages"  in  Japanese — An  Interesting  Meeting  —  Struggling 
with  a  Foreign  Language  —  "Sayonara"to  our  Friends  —  Japanese 
Refreshments  — Eating  Bean  Soup  with  Chopsticks  — A  Difficult 
Operation  —  Drinking  Soup  from  a  Bowl  —  Delusive  Beans  —  New  Use 
for  a   Sleeve  —  A    Japanese    Pillow  —  The    Professor  of    Flowers. 


OME   of    the   compensations    that 

come  to  a  woman  who  for  the 

sake  of  taking  a  journey  around 

the  world  has  given  up  her  own 

home,  are  the  delightful  glimpses 

she  gets  of  other  homes,  and  the 

pleasant  acquaintances  made  with 

other   women   and   children.     If 

she  cannot  cuddle  her  own  babies 

she  can  cuddle  the  little  brown 

ones  in  India  or  Ceylon,  or  the 

yellow  ones  in  China  and  Japan, 

and  in  talking  with  their  mothers  she  cannot  help  but  feel  a 

sympathy  Avlth  home  life  in  other  lands  such  as  never  could 

have  been  awakened  by  books  or  travelers'  tales. 

One  of  my  first  native  acquaintances  was  little  "  Queens- 

( G03 ) 


004  LITTLE    "QUEENSLAND   LUCY." 

land  Lucy  "  (as  we  called  her),  on  the  Mariposa,  the  steamer 
which  carried  us  from  San  Francisco  to  Sydney.  Her  sad 
little  face  was  the  blackest  one  I  ever  saw,  and  she  was  so 
th]n  and  poor  that  I  wondered  if  she  ever  had  enough  to 
eat.  As  I  became  better  acquainted  with  her,  I  found  that 
the  sober  face  could  light  up  with  a  smile,  and  that  in  spite 
of  her  forlorn  appearance  she  had  a  comfortable  home.  She 
•was  an  aboriginal  Australian  girl  from  North  Queensland, 
who  had  been  adopted  by  white  people,  who  cared  for  her  as 
if  she  had  been  their  own.  She  was  a  most  forlorn  little 
miss  to  look  at,  however,  and  seemed  to  have  very  little  idea 
of  life  as  happy,  rolicking  children  in  America  know  it. 
During  all  those  twenty-four  days  on  the  Mariposa,  I  never 
saw  her  run  about  and  play  like  other  children.  She  would 
sit  alone  most  of  the  time  with  her  patchwork  in  her  lap, 
sometimes  sewing  a  little,  sometimes  reading,  and  often  with 
her  hands  folded,  doing  nothing.  She  seemed  to  be  happy, 
however,  in  her  own  quiet  way,  and  an  occasional  walk  on 
deck  seemed  to  be  recreation  enough  to  satisfy  her.  After- 
wards we  saw  more  of  these  aboriginal  inhabitants  of 
Australia  at  Port  Darwin.  They  are  repulsive  looking 
people,  most  of  them  as  thin  as  skeletons,  all  of  them  with 
very  black  faces,  but  seeming  happy  and  contented  with 
their  lot  in  life. 

It  seemed  to  me  that  Port  Darwin  was  the  hottest  place 
on  the  face  of  the  earth,  but  a  few  European  people  manage 
to  live  there,  and  the  natives  seemed  to  like  the  terrific  heat. 
Groups  of  mothers  and  children  sat  on  the  ground  basking 
m  the  sun.  The  mothers  seemed  to  be  very  fond  of  their 
black  babies,  and  some  of  them  were  bright  looking  little 
tots,  though  none  were  pretty.  In  every  other  country  I 
invariably  found  bright,  pretty,  attractive  children,  no 
matter  what  their   color  or  their  costume  might  be,  but 


HOME   LIFE   IN   JAPAN. 


G05 


among  all  these  little  black  babies  in  North  Australia  I  did 
not  see  one  that  looked  kissable  or  even  as  though  it  could 
be  made  so. 

So  far  as  I  could  learn,  but  little  is  being  done  to  civilize 
or  Christianize  these  people,  though  I  believe  there  are  a  few 
missionaries  among  them.  My  heart  went  out  to  those  poor, 
dirty,  black  babies,  and  I  Avished  with  all  my.  heart  that  I 
could  do  something  for  them. 

We  had  delightful  glimpses 
of  home  life  in  Japan.  On  one 
occasion  I  was  invited  by  a  mis- 
sionary lady  to  attend  a  wo- 
men's prayer  meeting  in  Yoko- 
hama, an  invitation  I  was  glad 
to  accept.  She  called  two  jin- 
rikishas,  which  soon  appeared 
at  the  door,  and  after  the  jinrik- 
isha  men  had  wrapped  their 
red  blankets  about  us  we  started 
off.  This  is  a  comfortable  way 
of  traveling ;  indeed,  it  is  almost 
the  only  way  in  Japan,  though 
there  are  now  a  few  horses  in 
Yokohama,  and  also  in  Tokio. 

How  I  wish  the  friends  at 
home  could  have  seen  the  people  we  met  that  afternoon ! 
The  demure  Japanese  maidens  with  their  pretty  costumes 
and  obis,  shuffling  along  on  their  wooden  shoes ;  the  little 
boys  and  girls  with  babies  tied  on  their  backs, —  the  babies' 
heads  bobbing  about  in  every  direction  as  the  children  ran 
and  played ;  the  old  women  with  their  wrinkled  faces  and 
their  black  teeth  ;  the  jinrikisha  men  Avaiting  at  every  cor- 
ner, standing  by  their  little  carriages  or  sitting  between  the 


A   JAPANESE   MOTHER. 


600 


AN   ANIMATED   HAYSTACK. 


shafts  with  their  gay  bUmkets  wrapped  about  them ;  and 
occasionally  a  stylish  Japanese  lady  out  for  a  ride,  or  an 
Englishman  out  for  a  walk. 

It  began  to  rain  a  little  while  we  were  upon  this  our  first 
journey  in  a  jinrikisha,  and  while  we  were  quite  well  pro- 
tected by  the  covering  overhead,  our  carriers  protected 
themselves  by  putting  on  their  rain-coats  —  not  mackin- 
toshes, dear  reader,  or  rubber 
monstrosities  such  as  we  wear 
at  home,  but  a  cheap  and  con- 
venient affair  made  of  rice- 
straw,  which  sheds  the  water 
like  the  feathers  of  a  duck. 
Thus  thatched,  our  jinrikisha 
man  looked  like  an  animated 
havstack.  His  rain  cloak  cov- 
ered  him  almost  from  head  to 
heels.  In  the  crowded  street 
he  was  continually  shouting, 
at  the  top  of  his  voice,  "Hi- 
hi,"  which  may  be  translated 
into  English,  I  suppose,  as 
"Look  out  there,"  "Get  out 
of  the  way,"  in  order  to  clear 
a  passage  for  our  little  procession. 

Some  of  the  Japanese  maidens  who  passed  us  in  the 
street  were  very  pretty,  though  I  wished  they  might  learn 
to  walk  more  gracefully  instead  of  shuffling  along  in  an 
awkward  manner  in  their  clumsy  wooden  shoes. 

After  a  half-hour's  ride,  we  arrived  at  last  at  the  private 
house  where  the  class-meeting  was  to  be  held.  Before 
entering  we  sat  on  the  doorstep,  took  off  our  boots,  and  put 
on  some  soft  felt  slippers  w^hich  we  had  brought  with  us. 


A  JAPANESE  MAIDEN. 


o  n. 


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AT   A   JAPANESE   PRAYER   MEETING.  609 

As  soon  as  we  were  inside  the  house,  I  understood  why  cus- 
tom required  us  to  take  off  our  boots,  for  the  floor,  which 
was  covered  with  dainty,  soft  straw  matting,  was  immacu- 
hitely  neat  and  clean. 

Japanese  women  wear  wooden  shoes,  which  are  held  on 
by  a  strap  across  the  top  of  the  foot  and  are  easily  slipped 
off  at  the  door ;  they  wear  only  stockings  on  their  feet  while 
they  are  in  the  house. 

A  little  company  of  women  sat  on  the  floor  waiting  for 
us.  They  politely  pointed  to  some  cushions  which  had  been 
placed  ready  in  anticipation  of  our  coming,  whereupon  we, 
too,  sat  down  on  the  floor.  It  was  a  cordial  Japanese  wel- 
come, our  hostesses  bowing  down  until  their  foreheads 
touched  the  floor.  We  returned  the  salutation  as  well  as  we 
could,  though  it  was  not  easy  to  do  it  gracefully. 

The  meeting  opened  by  singing  the  hymn,  "Rock  of 
Ages."  My  hymn  book  contained  a  translation  of  the  hymn 
in  Japanese,  and  I  joined  with  the  others  in  singing: 

"  Chiyo  beshi  iwa  yo, 
Ware  wo  kakusbi  ne, 
Sakareshi  waki  no, 

Mizu  to  chishio  ni, 
Waga  tsumi  toga  wo, 
Arai  Kiyomeyo." 

I  realized  as  never  before  that  we  were  all  children  of 
the  same  Heavenly  Father  and  that  Christian  men  and 
women  owe  something  to  their  brothers  and  sisters  in  other 
lands,  whether  we  recognize  the  obligation  or  not. 

Christ's  last  command,  "Go  ve  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature,"  simply  means,  find  out 
your  brothers  and  sisters  everywhere,  help  just  as  many  of 
them  as  you  can,  tell  them  of  their  Heavenly  Father  and  of 
His  love  for  them.     I  wish  that  those  people  who  think  mis- 


€10  MY   FIRST   LESSON   IN  JAPANESE. 

sionaries  are  not  accomplishing  anything  could   have  been 
present  at  this  little  meeting ! 

'  One  after  another  Japanese  Avoman  took  part.  They 
spoke  earnestly  and  freely  of  their  religious  experiences.  I 
could  not  understand  their  Avords,  but  I  could  see  the  rever- 
ent spirit  they  showed  and  could  unite  with  them  in  prayer. 

When  I  was  asked  to  speak  a  few  words  to  them  I  re- 
alized the  difficulty  missionaries  experience  in  struggling 
with  a  foreign  tongue.  It  is  never  easy  to  speak  through  an 
interpreter.  As  this  was  my  first  day  in  Japan  I  had  not 
learned  even  one  word  of  their  lano-uag-e.  The  meetino: 
closed  with  another  hymn,  and  after  many  salutations  and 
much  bowing  we  departed. 

Sitting  on  the  doorsteps  once  more,  we  put  on  our  boots, 
and  my  missionary  friend  turned  and  said  to  our  hosts, 
"Sayonara"  (good-bye).  I  thought  I  could  manage  as  much 
as  that,  so  I,  too,  said  "Sayonara,"  and  the  good  sisters 
laughed  and  bowed  and  seemed  much  interested. 

Afterwards  I  visited  other  Japanese  homes,  and  all  were 
attractive  places.  Clean,  white,  soft  matting  on  the  floors, 
the  ever-present  vase  of  flowers,  the  pretty  screens,  even  the 
absence  of  furniture  was  pleasant  to  one  who  had  been 
accustomed  to  see  so  many  over-furnished  and  over-decorated 
American  homes. 

I  cannot  say  that  I  enjoyed  Japanese  refreshments.  I 
took  several  lessons  in  the  use  of  chopsticks,  but  never  be- 
came proficient  in  managing  them.  It  must  require  years 
of  practice  to  use  them  skillfully  and  gracefully. 

I  remember  especially  one  experience  soon  after  we 
reached  Japan.  I  had  been  at  a  woman's  prayer  meeting 
and  at  the  close  refreshments  were  brought  in.  "We  sat  on 
the  floor  in  true  Japanese  style,  not  a  very  comfortable 
fashion  for  one  who  is  not  accustomed  to  it.     Our  hostess 


AN  EMBARRASSED   GUEST. 


611 


served  refreshments  on  little  square  trays  of  lacquer  work, 
setting  one  tray  on  the  floor  in  front  of  each  guest.  On 
each  tray  was  a  little  bowl  of  bean  soup,  a  pair  of  chop 
sticks,  a  cup  of  tea,  some  little  cakes,  two  oranges,  and  four 
persimmons.  I  looked  at  mine  in  despair,  for  I  was  not 
hungry  and  did  not  know  just  how  much  native  etiquette 
required  me  to  eat. 

Evidently  the  bean  soup  was  the  thing  to  begin  with.     I 
watched  the  others  and  then  began  on  mine  as  they  did  on 


JAPANESE   REFRESHMENTS. 


theirs,  eating  the  beans  and  the  rice  cakes  with  the  chop- 
sticks and  drinking  the  soup  from  the  bowl.  The  rice  cake 
was  too  big  to  eat  whole  and  it  was  certainl}^  rather  hard  to 
manage  with  the  chopsticks.  Moreover  the  soup  was  .sweet- 
ened, and  as  I  prefer  salt  and  pepper  in  soup,  I  did  not  en- 
joy it  very  much. 

However,  I  struggled  with  my  chopsticks  and  fished  out 
as  many  beans  as  I  could,  and  drank  the  soup.  But  those 
beans  were  a  delusion  and  a  snare.  After  wrestling  with 
the  chopsticks  and  at  last  catching  a  bean  I  would  raise  it  to 


612 


CHOPSTICK   GYMNASTICS. 


my  lips,  my  moutli  ^vould  open  to  receive  it  —  and  down 
would  go  the  bean  into  the  soup.  Then  I  would  drink  a 
little  soup  and  try  again.  I  succeeded  in  capturing  several 
beans,  but  it  was  the  work  of  time  and  patience,  and  at  last 
I  gave  it  up ;  for  I  found  that  the  others  had  all  finished 
theirs  and  had  leisure  to  observe  my  frantic  efforts. 

The  tea  was  very  strong,  without  milk  or  sugar,  but  it 
was  served  in  such  dainty  china  cups  that  one  could  hardly 


WASHIKG  DAY  IN   JAPAN. 


refrain  from  drinking  it.  The  little  cakes,  too,  were  good, 
and  the  oranges  and  persimmons  delicious,  but  must  I  eat 
them  all '. 

As  I  watched  the  other  guests,  I  saw  that  they  ate  what 
they  pleased  and  put  the  rest  in  their  sleeves.  My  sleeves 
were  not  large  enough  to  be  very  useful  in  that  way,  but 
my  missionary  friend  produced  a  handkerchief  which  she 
had  thoughtfully  provided  for  the  occasion,  and  the  left-over 
dainties  were  carried  home. 

After  we  had  partaken  of  refreshments  came  the  leave- 


A  CEREMONIOUS   LEAVE-TAKING. 


G13 


taking,  -syhich  could  not  be  hurried.  One  at  a  time  the 
ladies  rose  and  bowed  to  the  floor,  first  before  the  hostess 
and  then  before  each  of  the  other  guests.  As  there  were 
twenty -five  or  thirty  ladies  present  it  was  some  time  before 
the  proper  amount  of  bowing  was  done ;  but  at  length  the 
last  farewell  was  spoken  and  stepping  into  our  jinrikishas 
we  were  trundled  through  the  narrow  streets  and  back  to 
our  home. 

I  have  never  experi- 
enced sleeping  in  a  Jap- 
anese bed,  but  I  saw  a 
good  many  of  them  and 
they  looked  inviting. 
Thick  comfortables  were 
laid  on  soft,  white  straw 
matting,  but  the  hard, 
round  pillow  did  not  seem 
conducive  to  rest.  The 
Japanese  wooden  pillow 
never  had  any  attractions 
for  me,  though  unless  one 
tries  to  copy  the  fearful 
and  wonderful  style  of 
hair-dressing  adopted  by  many  Japanese  Avomen  there  is  no 
need  of  using  it. 

A  missionary  school  in  any  foreign  land  is  always  an  in- 
teresting place.  I  remember  going  into  one  of  them  in 
Japan  just  at  the  time  when  the  floral  professor  (if  that  is 
his  title)  was  giving  lessons  in  the  arrangement  of  flowers. 
It  was  a  pretty  sight  to  watch  a  demure  Japanese  maiden  as 
she  took  up  a  little  flower  stalk,  or  a  dry  twig  broken  from 
a  leafless  tree,  and  tried  it  first  in  one  position  and  then  in 
another,  turning  her  head  prettily  to  one  side  and  then  to 


STREET   CHILDREN   OF  JAPAN. 


614  THE   ART   OF   ARRANGING   FLOWERS. 

the  other,  all  the  time  looking  anxiously  at  the  flower  to 
study  the  effect,  while  the  professor  looked  gravely  on  or 
offered  an  occasional  suggestion. 

From  one  pupil  to  another  the  professor  went  just  as  I 
have  seen  a  teacher  of  drawing  go  around  among  his  pu]3ils, 
giving  a  word  of  praise  here,  offering  a  suggestion  there,  or 
a  criticism  somewhere  else.  How^  earnestly  the  girls  worked 
at  their  task,  and  how  pleased  they  were  w4th  a  word  of 
commendation  !• 

At  first,  one  is  inclined  to  question  whether  their  time 
might  not  be  more  profitably  employed ;  but  as  I  saw  the 
results  of  their  skillful  and  artistic  w^ork  in  the  graceful  ar- 
rangements of  flowers,  and  thought  of  some  of  the  useless 
fancy  work  I  had  seen  girls  do  in  American  homes,  it 
seemed  to  me  that  this  part  of  a  Japanese  maiden's  educa- 
tion is  worthy  of  all  praise  and  could  well  be  followed  by 
girls  of  other  lands.  Such  a  tasteful  arrangement  of  flowers 
was  new  to  my  American  eyes.  Who  would  have  thought 
that  four  or  five  dr}^  twigs  broken  from  a  leafless  tree  would 
make  such  an  artistic  bouquet,  or  that  a  vase  with  only 
three  sprays  of  chrysanthemums  could  be  so  beautiful  ? 

After  looking  at  these  dainty  vases,  each  one  holding  but 
three  or  four  spra3^s  and  only  one  kind  of  flower,  each  spray 
arranged  with  careful  reference  to  the  others  and  all  droop- 
ing in  the  most  graceful  manner, — how  coarse  and  awkward 
our  great  round  American  bouquets  seemed,  with  all  kinds 
of  flowers,  arranged  often  Avithout  the  slightest  regard  to 
color  or  harmony.  I  shall  never  look  at  another  bouquet 
without  thinking  of  the  beautiful  flowers,  always  artistically 
arranged,  that  can  be  seen  in  so  many  homes  in  Japan. 

Twice  a  week,  in  some  of  the  schools,  the  girls  spend  an 
hour  with  the  floral  professor  in  studying  this  science ;  for  it 
is  a  real  science  as  they  take  it  up,  and  there  are  definite 


NOT   FAR  BEHIND   THEIR   SISTERS. 


615 


rules  governing  not  only  the  arrangement  of  each  flower 
spray,  but  its  relation  to  all  the  other  sprays  and  to  the  vase 
that  is  to  hold  them. 

Let  it  not  be  thought,  however,  that  this  is  the  only  or 
most  important  study  taken  up  by  the  Japanese  girls. 
Many  of  these  mission  schools  would  rank  well  with  our 
own  high  schools  and  seminaries  at  home,  and  the  girls  at 
Kobe  College  or  the  Doshisha  would  compare  very  favor- 
ably with  the  girls  at  "Wellesley  or  Smith  or  Yassar. 


37 


CHAPTEE  III. 

AMONG  THE  WOMEN  AND  CHILDREN  OF  INDIA  —  NATRT: 
DRESS  AND  ORNAMENTS  —  LIFE  INSIDE  A  RICH  HEATH- 
EN HOME  — HEATHEN  DOLLS,  BRIDES,  AND  WIDOWS. 

Children  in  Ceylon  —  Persistent  Little  Beggars  —  Curly-Headed  Karo  — 
"My  so  Poor"  —  Pretty  Brown  Babies  —  Little  Hands  Stretched  out 
for  Alms  —  Ceylon  Dandies  —  Picturesque  Waiters  —  A  Race  of  Beg- 
gars—  Tipping  an  Army  of  Attendants  —  Starting  on  a  Journey  at 
Three  o'clock  in  the  Morning  —  A  Wagon  Ride  of  Seven  Miles  in  the 
Iiloonlight — Through  the  Streets  of  Vellore  —  Arrival  at  a  Mission 
Bungalow  —  A  Native  Girl's  Boarding  School  —  A  Bridal  Trousseau  in 
Red  and  Yellow  —  Life  Inside  a  Heathen  Home  —  Our  Reception  by  the 
"Bo"  —  A  Peep  into  the  "Baboo's"  Apartments  —  A  Display  of 
Jewelry  —  An  American  Doll  in  India  —  A  Heathen  Doll  —  Mrs.  Grundy 
in  a  Zenana  —  Ten- Year-Old  Brides  —  Child  Widows. 


NE  does  not  always  realize,  when 
looking  at  the  little  spot  on  the 
map  marked  "Ceylon,"  what  a 
big  island  it  is.  In  Coloml)o  I 
was  much  interested  in  the  little 
brown-faced,  black-eyed  children, 
many  of  them  beggars,  and  the 
most  persistent,  irresistible  beg- 
gars I  ever  met.  Whenever  any 
of  them  intercepted  me  in  my 
walks  I  was  whoUv  at  their 
mercy,  for  it  was  almost  impos- 
sible to  say  "no"  to  such  winsome,  tiny  pleaders. 

I  remember  especially  one  small  maiden  who  told  me  her 
name  was  Karo.  Her  tangled  curly  hair  fell  to  her 
shoulders,  her  black  eyes  sparkled,  and  her   merry  brown 

(610) 


A  MERRY   LITTLE   BEGGAR, 


617 


face  made  a  most  interesting  picture.  She  wore  a  bright  red 
cloth,  gracefully  draped,  and  her  brown  arms  and  hands 
were  covered  with  bracelets,  bangles,  and  rings. 

She  was  among  the  first  to  greet  us  when  we  left  the 
steamer,  and  persistently  followed  us  to  our  hotel,  which 
was  only  a  few  steps  away,  begging  all  the  time.  "  Mama, 
give  my  a  penny,  my  so  poor. 
Please,  mama,  just  one  penny. 
I  make  you  salaam,  you  just 
give  one  penny,  my  very  hun- 
gry, my  so  poor,  you  got  plen- 
ty money,  my  so  hungry." 
Then  she  would  draw  down 
the  corners  of  her  mouth  and 
put  on  a  pensive  look,  and  in  Pj| 
spite  of  herself  would  break 
into  a  merry  smile.  She  did 
not  appear  to  be  suffering 
from  hunger,  neither  w^as  she 
very  poor  as  one  reckons  pov- 
erty in  Ceylon,  yet  it  was 
almost  impossible  to  resist  her 
importunities.  She  was  quick 
to  see  my  helplessness  and  was 
always  lying  in  wait  for  me. 

The  little  brown  babies  in  Ceylon  were  attractive,  too. 
Almost  every  woman  carried  a  baby  sitting  astride  her  hip, 
while  she  threw  one  arm  around  it  to  keep  it  from  falling, 
and  the  little  creatures  looked  around  with  as  much  interest 
and  wonder  as  any  American  baby  would  show. 

It  was  simply  impossible  to  pass  them  by  without  speak- 
ing to  them,  and  at  least  patting  their  chubby  hands. 
Generally  the  little  hand  opened  for  a  penny,  for  they  learn 


COLOMBO   CHXLDREN. 


618 


MEN   IN   GIRLISH   ATTIRE. 


to  beg  before  they  learn  to  walk.  It  is  comparatively  easy 
to  resist  a  larger  beggar,  but  when  a  little  hand  is  stretched 
out  for  alms  the  temptation  to  give  is  very  strong. 

The  people  in  Colombo  are  all  interesting,  because  so 
many  different  nationalities  are  represented  —  Hindus,  Por- 
tuguese, Malays,  Singhalese,  and  many  others,  each  one 
seemingly  more  picturesque  than  the  others.     Many  of  the 

men  wore  their  hair  long  and 
done  up  in  a  pug  behind,  while 
others  wore  round  combs  on 
the  top  of  their  heads,  such  as 
little  girls  at  home  often  wear 
to  keep  their  hair  out  of  their 
eyes.  Imagine  a  tall,  full- 
bearded,  imposing  looking 
man,  brown  faced  and  bare- 
footed, dressed  in  a  white  jack- 
et, with  a  plaid  skirt  reaching 
down  to  his  knees,  a  round 
comb  on  the  top  of  his  head, 
and  a  generous  pug  behind. 
This  is  a  picture  of  all  the 
waiters  at  the  hotel,  and  they 
make  the  dining-room  so  pic- 
turesque that  there  seems  to 
be  no  need  of  using  other  decorations. 

Then  there  are  men  with  long,  black,  curly  hair  parted 
in  the  middle,  and  falling  in  ringlets  on  their  shoulders,  and 
young  men  of  eighteen  or  nineteen,  who  look  so  much  like 
girls  that  it  is  hard  to  tell  whether  they  are  men  or  women. 
All  wear  ear-rings,  and  many  of  them  wear  bracelets,  too. 
One  man  was  adorned  with  half  a  dozen  silver  bangles  hang- 
ing from  each  ear,  just  such  bangles  as  young  ladies  in 


A   HAPPY  MOTHER. 


FIVE    MILES   IN   A   LITTLE   BOAT, 


C19 


America  would  wear  for  bracelets.  The  babies  wear  little 
or  no  clothing,  just  a  string  of  beads  around  the  neck,  and 
sometimes  a  string  around  the  waist,  but  plentifully  decorated 
with  bangles  and  bracelets. 

The  voyage  from  Colombo  to  Tuticorin  is  short,  and  it 
hardly  seemed  worth  while  to  unpack  our  goods  and  set  up 
housekeeping  again  just  for  a  single  night.  Everyone  had 
promised  us   a  rough  passage,   but  we   were   wonderfully 


PITIFUL   LITTLE   CREATURES. 


favored  and  succeeded  in  gettino:  across  without  seasickness 
or  tribulations  of  any  kind. 

It  was  a  trial  to  me  to  have  to  anchor  five  miles  from 
land  and  go  ashore  in  a  small  boat.  The  water  was  rough, 
but  we  all  survived  a  thorough  shaking  up  and  rejoiced  to 
find  ourselves  safe  on  terra  firma  again. 

What  a  difference  all  at  once  in  the  people  and  their  cos- 
tumes !  The  pretty  babies,  merry  children,  and  curly-headed 
men  had  vanished,  and  in  their  places  were  men,  women,  and 


620  FEEING   A  REGIMENT. 

children,  with  brown  faces,  to  be  sure,  but  neither  good  look- 
ing nor  picturesque.  The  men  were  dressed  in  white  cloth, 
instead  of  bright  red  skirts,  and  the  babies  were  most  pitiful 
little  creatures.  The  women  and  girls  were  adorned  with 
cheap  brass  finery,  ear-rings,  finger-rings,  toe-rings,  anklets, 
bracelets,  necklaces,  and  nose  jewels,  all  in  such  abundance 
that  they  reminded  us  of  the  old  nursery  rhyme, 

"  Rings  on  her  fingers  and  bells  on  her  toes, 
And  she  shall  have  music  wherever  she  goes." 

There  were  no  English-speaking  people  to  be  found,  and 
we  were  not  well  versed  in  Tamil ;  but  by  means  of  gestures 
and  the  use  of  vigorous  English,  we  succeeded  in  engaging 
some  of  the  natives  to  carry  our  luggage  to  the  custom  house, 
and  then  to  the  station,  and  after  a  hasty  tiffin  and  a  ride 
through  the  hot,  dusty  little  town,  we  were  glad  to  find  our- 
selves seated  in  the  train  for  Madura. 

Then  what  a  retinue  of  men  gathered  around  us  begging 
for  remuneration  for  some  real  or  fancied  service  which  they 
had  rendered  us !  There  were  the  four  men  who  had  brought 
our  luggage  to  the  station  ;  the  man  who  gave  us  our  tiflin ; 
the  man  who  waited  upon  us  at  table ;  the  man  who  cooked 
the  food ;  the  men  who  stood  by  and  watched  us  eat  it ;  the 
punkah-wallah,  who  pulled  the  punkah  for  us ;  the  man  who 
stood  by  our  luggage  Avhile  we  were  gone  to  tiffin ;  the  man 
who  drove  us  around  the  town  ;  the  men  who  lifted  our  lug- 
gage from  the  platform  into  the  car ;  the  man  who  picked 
up  a  key  which  had  been  dropped  ;  the  man  who  stood  and 
looked  on  while  he  did  it ;  to  say  nothing  of  all  the  men  who 
wanted  to  do  something  for  us,  and  who  also  wished  to  be 
remembered. 

Fortunately  none  of  them  expected  a  large  sum,  and  they 
were  paid  off  and  dismissed  just  as  the  train  started  on  the 
long,  slow  journey  to  Madura. 


A   TRIP   TO   VELLORE.  G21 

A  visit  to  the  girls'  boarding  school  at  Yellore  afforded  a 
glimpse  of  girl  life  in  India  at  once  interesting  and  instruct- 
ive. "We  started  from  Madanapali  at  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  The  boys  of  the  mission  school  were  up,  even  at 
that  early  hour,  to  see  us  off,  and,  escorting  us  to  the  gate, 
they  sung  us  a  farewell  song  as  we  started  off  in  the  moon- 
light for  the  seven-mile  drive  to  the  railroad  station,  where 
we  arrived  just  after  sunrise. 

The  cars  of  the  South  Indian  railway  are  not  the  most 
comfortable  in  the  world,  and  after  a  long,  hot,  dusty  ride, 
we  arrived  at  Yellore  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  To 
one  who  only  looks  at  the  map,  the  two  little  dots  which 
stand  for  Madanapali  and  Yellore  look  very  near  together, 
but  the  journey  takes  nearly  twelve  hours. 

After  lingering  around  the  station,  wondering  how  we 
were  going  to  find  our  missionary  friends,  we  Avere  accosted 
by  a  native,  dressed  in  a  white  cloth  and  a  white  turban, 
who  held  a  piece  of  paper  in  his  hand.  He  could  not  speak 
a  word  of  English,  nor  we  of  Tamil,  but  as  the  paper  bore  a 
familiar  name  we  took  it  for  granted  that  he  had  been  sent, 
and  followed  him  to  a  carriage  which  stood  near  by  with 
seats  for  three. 

He  indicated  to  us  by  gestures  that  we  were  to  get  in  and 
drive,  and  although  we  had  no  idea  which  way  to  go  we 
seated  ourselves  in  the  carriage  and  drove  off,  the  native 
running  on  behind  or  on  one  side,  occasionally  going  on  in 
front  to  clear  the  way.  After  a  delightful  drive  through 
the  cool,  shady  streets  of  Yellore,  we  drew  up  at  last  in 
front  of  the  mission  bungalow,  where  a  cordial  welcome 
awaited  us. 

The  Girls'  Boarding  School  numbers  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  girls  from  fourteen  to  twenty  years  old.  If  the 
mission  schools  of  India  had  done  nothing  else  they  would 


622  BOARDING  SCHOOL  GIRLS. 

be  deserving  of  liberal  support  for  having  saved  so  many 
girls  from  the  evils  of  child  marriage.  But  that  is  very 
little  compared  TV'ith  what  the  missionaries  have  done  and 
are  doing  for  the  girls  and  women  of  India. 

Some  of  the  older  girls  were  getting  ready  to  be  married, 
and  were  making  their  wedding  skirts  of  bright  yellow  cloth 
with  large  red  figures.  Others  were  busy  with  their  books 
or  their  sewing.  ' 

A  run  over  the  building,  and  a  peep  into  the  sleeping 
rooms,  dining-room,  kitchen,  and  school-room  followed. 

All  the  girls  sleep  in  one  large  room.  Each  bed  consists 
of  a  long,  wide  board  over  which  is  laid  a  piece  of  straw 
matting.  The  board  is  laid  on  the  floor,  the  matting  is 
thrown  over  it  and  the  bed  is  made.  Each  girl  has  also 
a  sheet  and  a  blanket  that  she  can  use  if  the  weather  is  cool. 
A  large  brass  dish,  about  the  size  and  shape  of  a  wash  basin, 
and  a  brass  drinking  cup,  comprise  all  the  dishes  furnished 
to  each  girl.  Rice,  curry,  and  plantains  constitute  the  usual 
food.  They  are  neat  in  their  habits,  and  although  they  eat 
with  their  fingers,  the}^  do  so  in  the  prettiest  and  daintiest 
manner.  As  for  clothing,  all  they  really  need  is  a  cloth  of 
any  bright  color,  which  they  know  how  to  drape  very  grace- 
fully. Many  of  them,  however,  do  wear  a  skirt  as  well  as  a 
cloth. 

Toe  rings  and  anklets  seem  to  answer  all  the  purpose  of 
shoes  and  stockings. 

These  girls  receive  a  fair  education,  learn  to  sew  and  to 
care  for  their  homes  and  families,  and  best  of  all,  most  of 
them  return  to  their  homes  as  Christian  girls. 

Going  one  day  with  a  missionary  friend  in  Calcutta  to 
visit  some  of  her  Zenana  friends,  I  had  a  rare  opportunity  to 
see  life  in  a  rich  heathen  home.  The  house  was  a  large 
three-story  one  with  an  open  court  in  the  center  into  which 


THE    "BO       AND   HER  TREASURES.  623 

rooms  opened  from  all  sides  of  the  building.  A  servant 
answered  our  knock  at  the  door,  and  in  reply  to  our 
inquiries  told  us  that  the  "  bo  "  would  be  glad  to  see  us  up 
stairs.  I  wondered  why  the  "  bo  "  did  not  come  to  meet  us, 
but  soon  discovered  for  mvself  that  it  would  not  have  been 
proper  for  anyone  in  her  scant  attire  to  come  downstairs. 

She  met  us  at  the  top  of  the  stairs  and  invited  us  into  her 
private  apartments  on  the  third  floor.  She  was  proud  of 
her  parlor,  which  was  furnished  with  three  chairs,  a  mirror, 
and  a  book-case  with  glass  doors,  in  which  she  kept  her 
special  treasures  and  bric-a-brac,  consisting  of  little  pewter 
and  china  tea  sets,  toy  match-safes,  cheap  vases  and  images  ; ' 
and  on  the  top  shelf,  far  out  of  reach  of  little  fingers,  was 
an  American  doll  which  had  been  given  as  a  prize  for  regu- 
lar attendance  and  good  behavior  at  the  mission  school. 
The  little  owner  of  the  doll  looked  at  it  wistfully,  but  she 
was  never  allowed  to  touch  it.  "  Do  you  ever  play  with 
it  ? "  I  asked,  through  the  interpreter  who  accompanied  us. 
"  ISTo,  she  onlv  looked  at  it.''  When  I  asked  if  she  had  a 
doll  that  she  did  play  with,  she  brought  me  such  a  poor  con- 
sumptive image  of  green  and  red  clay  that  my  heart  was 
moved  with  pity,  not  only  for  her  but  for  the  little  brown 
maidens  all  over  India,  who  know  so  little  of  the  delights  of 
childhood. 

"  Would  I  like  to  see  her  jewelry  ?  "  the  mother  asked  me. 
Of  course  I  would.  Whereupon,  she  brought  forth  her  jewel 
box,  and  spread  before  us  such  an  array  of  gold  and  silver 
and  precious  stones  and  strings  of  pearls  rarely  seen  outside 
of  a  jewelry  store.  There  were  rings,  bracelets,  anklets, 
nose  jewels,  earrings,  finger  rings,  and  chains,  most  of  them 
of  solid  gold  or  silver.  The  heavy  bracelets  were  of  solid 
gold,  and  so  were  the  costly  anklets  and  earrings  which 
looked  as  thouo^h  thev  would  be  burdensome  to  wear. 


624  ''MRS.  GRUNDY"   IN   INDIA. 

"  Would  I  let  her  look  at  my  jewelry  ? "  she  asked.  Cer- 
tainly I  would.  I  showed  her  my  watch  and  plain  gold 
ring,  remarking,  that  while  her  ornaments  were  very  pretty, 
I  should  think  they  would  be  troublesome  to  carry,  adding, 
that  mine  were  all  I  cared  to  wear. 

"  Yes,"  she  said  reflectively,  "  Your  way  is  the  best  and 
my  bracelets  and  anklets  hurt  me,  and  I  do  not  like  to  wear 
them  very  often,  but  must  sometimes  or  people  would  not 
know  I  had  them."  So  I  found  that  even  in  the  Zenana 
Mrs.  Grundy  holds  sway. 

Before  we  left  the  "  bo  "  invited  us  into  the  "  baboos " 
apartments,  which  were  on  the  second  floor  and  were  much 
more  elegant  than  his  wife's.  She  also  showed  us  her  son's 
room,  and  a  poorer,  smaller  one  where  her  little  daughters 
slept.  Then  escorting  us  to  the  top  of  the  stairs,  she  bade  us 
good-bye,  and  we  were  left  to  find  our  way  out  alone. 

So  we  left  this  poor  "  bo "  to  live  her  secluded  life,  the 
monotony  of  which  Avas  broken  only  by  combing  her  hair, 
doing  a  little  embroidery,  gossipping  with  neighbors  who 
chanced  to  call,  and  looking  at  her  jewelry. 

We  were  in  India  in  February,  the  popular  month  for 
weddings,  and  almost  every  day  we  heard  the  sound  of  music 
announcing  a  wedding  procession,  and  often  saw  the  youth- 
ful bridegroom  and  his  tiny  bride.  My  heart  was  moved 
with  pity  for  these  little  brides.  The  little  widows,  too, 
aroused  my  deepest  sympathy.  Just  think  of  it,  mothers  at 
home  !  Thmk  of  a  ten-year-old  widow,  doomed  to  a  life  of 
misery  and  woe,  because  it  is  supposed  to  be  her  fault  if  her- 
husband  dies.  When  I  think  how  we  cherish  and  guard  our 
own  daughters  at  home,  doing  our  best  to  keep  sorrow  and 
troi\ble  awa}''  from  them,  and  then  remember  these  poor 
little  children,  my  heart  cries  aloud  for  help  to  rescue  the  be- 
nighted women  and  innocent  children  of  India. 


CHAPTER  ly. 


a  woman's  journey  across  turkey  in  a  wagon  —  a 
:memorable  night  in  a  Turkish  khan— Turkish 
village  life  —  interesting  personal  experiences. 

Learning  by  Experience  —  My  Traveling  Companions — "Coming  out 
Strong  "  —  Mark  Tapley's  Opinion  of  the  Sea  —  Our  First  Experiences  in 
a  Turkish  Custom  House  —  Searching  for  Concealed  Books  and  Papers 
—  A  Novel  Cavalcade  —  In  a  Turkish  Khan  —  A  Memorable  Night  — 
Rooming  with  Donkeys,  Camels,  and  Horses  —  Our  Wash  Basin  — 
Over  the  Taurus  Mountains  —  An  American  Spring  Wagon  in  Asia 
Mmor  —  A  Dismal  Prospect  —  Filth  and  Dirt  Everywhere  —  Sickening 
Sights  in  Village  Streets  —  Hobson's  Choice  —  In  a  Native  House  — 
Putting  an  Armenian  Baby  to  Bed  —  A  Cheerful  Infant  —  A  Peep  into 
Paradise  —  Dirty  Turks  —  Eating  out  of  the  Same  Dish  with  Them  — 
A  Plague  of  Fleas  —  Some  Pointed  Questions. 

T  is  hardly  possible  for  women  in 
America,  accustomed  to  journey- 
ing in  express  trains  and   luxuri- 
ous drawing-room  cars,  to  under- 
stand just  what  a  journey  of  sev- 
eral himdred  miles  across  Turkey 
in  a  wagon  was  to  the  one  "  lone, 
lorn  woman"  who  accomplished 
it,   and   whose   companions    were 
seven  men !     How  she  counted  up 
the  comforts  and  blessings  of  life 
in  the  homeland,  and  how  often 
she  resolved,  that  if  she  ever  lived  to  see  her  native  land 
again  she  would  never  complain  of  any  hardships  or  tribula- 
tions which  come  to  an  ordinary  housekeeper  in  America ! 
How  many  lessons   she  learned  of  thankfulness  for  small 

(625) 


636  "jolly"  experiexces. 

mercies !  How  soon  she  learned,  too,  that  it  was  possible  to 
live  without  a  good  many  things  that  most  people  count 
among  the  necessities  of  life. 

The  whole  trip  across  Turkey  from  the  landing  at  Mersin 
to  our  departure  from  Constantinople,  was  what  Mark  Tap- 
ley  would  have  called  "  jolly."  "  I'm  always  a  thinking," 
said  that  cheerful  philosopher,  "  that  with  my  good  health 
and  spirits  it  would  be  more  creditable  in  me  to  be  jolly 
where  there's  things  a  going  on  to  make  one  dismal.  It  may 
be  a  mistake  of  mine,  you  see,  but  nothing  short  of  trying 
how  it  acts,  wiU  set  it  right.  I  don't  believe  there  ever  was 
a*man  as  could  come  out  so  strong  under  circumstances  that 
would  make  other  men  miserable  as  I  could,  if  I  could  only 
get  a  chance." 

Some  of  our  experiences  on  the  Mediterranean  Sea  were 
very  like  Mark  Tapley's  description  of  life  at  sea. 

"  The  sea,"  he  continues,  "  is  as  nonsensical  a  thing  as 
anvthino^  o;oino^.  It  never  knows  what  to  do  with  itself.  It 
hasn't  got  no  employment  for  its  mind,  and  is  always  in  a 
state  of  vacancy.  Like  them  polar  bears  in  the  wild  beast 
shows,  as  is  constantly  nodding  their  heads  from  side  to  side, 
it  never  can  be  quiet,  which  is  entirely  owing  to  its  uncom- 
mon stupidity," 

"  Is  that  you,  Mark  ? "  asked  a  faint  voice  from  another 
berth. 

"  Its  as  much  of  me  as  is  left,  sir,  after  a  fortnight  of 
this  work,"  Mr.  Tapley  replied.  "  What  with  leading  the 
life  of  a  fly  ever  since  I've  been  aboard  (for  I've  been  perpet- 
ually holding  on  to  something  or  other,  in  an  upside  down 
position),  what  with  that,  sir,  and  putting  a  very  little  into 
m3'self,  and  taking  a  good  deal  out  in  various  ways,  there 
ain't  too  much  of  me  to  swear  by.  It  is  creditable  to  keep 
up  one's  spmts  here.     Virtue's  its  own  reward.     So's  jollity." 


RUDE  CUSTOM   HOUSE   OFFICIALS.  627 

To  at  least  one  of  the  three  pilgrims,  the  Mediterranean 
Sea  has  left  some  jolly  memories.  The  landing  at  Mersin 
was  "  jolly  "  ;  trying  to  walk  down  the  steps  from  the  steamer 
into  the  little  boat  which  takes  passengers  ashore,  was  not  the 
easiest  thing  in  the  world ;  the  tossing  about  on  the  rough 
waves,  and  the  landing  at  the  steps,  and  the  rough  greeting 
from  the  Turkish  Custom  House  officials,  all  these  things 
were  sufficiently  "jolly''. 

No  one  who  has  not  tried  it  can  quite  realize  how  trying 
to  a  woman's  soul  was  the  treatment  given  to  those  trunks 
in  that  Turkish  Custom  House.  Unfortunately  for  the  pil- 
grims, one  of  the  first  discoveries  made  by  the  inspectors  was 
a  book.  Then,  alas  for  the  travelers,  and  alas  for  the  trunl^s ! 
Such  rummaging,  such  unrolling  of  bundles  and  opening  of 
boxes  and  packages,  such  searching  for  concealed  books  or 
papers,  until  at  last  every  book  had  been  seized,  and  our 
crumpled  clothing  and  crushed  bundles  and  packages  were 
tossed  back  into  the  trunks  in  one  confused  mass !  From  the 
first  moment  those  rude  inspectors  opened  our  trunks  until 
our  dismantled  and  disheveled  belongings  were  thrown  into 
them  again,  one  woman  lost  all  the  respect  she  ever  had  for 
the  Turkish  government.  And  that  experience  in  the  Cus- 
tom House  was  only  a  sample  of  all  the  courtesy  and  kind- 
ness, or  the  lack  of  it,  that  was  shown  to  the  travelers  by 
Turkish  officials  in  all  that  memorable  journey  across  the 
country. 

I  think  we  all  breathed  a  great  sigh  of  relief  when  at  last 
we  shook  the  dust  of  Constantinople  from  our  feet,  and 
sailed  away  through  the  Dardanelles  to  Italy  and  the  Ionian 
shores. 

The  journey  began  at  Tarsus,  that  ancient  city  where 
Paul  was  born.  The  wagon,  which  was  a  palatial  affair  for 
Turkey,  was  very  much  like  an  emigrant's  wagon,  a  large, 


628  THE  ''emigrant  train." 

heavy,  baggage  wagon  with  a  white  canvas  top.  The  pro- 
cession started  off  in  great  style,  first  the  Turkish  "  Zabtieh  " 
"  saddled,  bridled,  and  fit  for  the  fight,"  as  the  nursery 
rhyme  has  it,  then  the  white-covered  wagon  which  carried 
the  three  pilgrims  and  their  missionary  friend  who  was  also 
guide,  conductor,  and  driver,  with  bedding  and  food  enough 
to  last  the  four  for  a  week;  and  last,  the  clumsy  native 
wagon  which  carried  the  trunks,  two  Turks  for  drivers,  and 
Ali,  our  Turkish  servant  and  trusty  helper. 

The  jouncing  and  jolting  and  the  thousand  and  one  dis- 
comforts, big  and  little,  soon  began  to  make  themselves  felt, 
and  we  realized  that  we  had  a  chance  "  to  come  out  strong." 

Twenty  or  twenty-five  miles  a  day  would  not  seem  to 
the  American  mind  to  be  much  of  a  journey,  but  it  made  uj) 
in  quality  what  it  lacked  in  quantity.  "When  at  noon  the 
wagon  drew  up  before  a  Turkish  khan,  it  was  a  great  sur- 
prise, to  one  of  the  wayfarers  at  least,  to  be  invited  to  alight 
and  go  inside  to  eat  dinner. 

"What !  go  into  such  a  place  as  that,  eat  dinner  there,  rest 
there !  ISTever,  so  long  as  she  had  the  spirit  of  a  woman 
would  she  so  demean  herself !  "  Come  one,  come  all,  this 
rock  shall  fly  from  its  firm  base  as  soon  as  I,"  was  the  feel- 
ing in  her  heart  as  she  meekly  answered,  "  Would  it  not  be 
pleasanter  to  sit  right  here  in  the  wagon  and  eat  our  lunch 
in  the  open  air  ?  " 

Her  suggestion  was  accepted  and  the  first  dinner  was  a 
pleasant  picnic  lunch.  But  when  twilight  came  and  the 
wagon  drew  up  before  another  khan  even  more  unattractive 
in  its  appearance  than  the  first,  and  a  dismount  was 
inevitable,  the  one  forlorn  woman  in  the  party  felt  like  a 
veritable  "  Mrs.  Gummidge  "  when  she  found  it  was  really 
expected,  not  only  that  she  would  go  into  such  a  place,  but 
that  she  would  eat  her  supper  and  sleep  there. 


A  NIGHT   IN  A*  TURKISH   KHAN.  629 

However,  there  was  no  help  for  it,  and  she  meekly 
accepted  the  situation,  and  gathering  her  skirts  about  her, 
she  tiptoed  her  way  through  the  dirty  stable-yard  into  a 
little  low,  dark  room  opening  out  of  it,  and  tried  to  be 
"jolly". 

Who  shall  describe  that  first  night  in  a  Turkish  khan ! 
It  is  impossible  for  any  American  woman  to  appreciate  the 
situation. 

Imagine  a  little,  low  stone  building  mostly  under  ground, 
with  a  square  courtyard  in  the  middle,  out  of  which  three 
rooms  open.  One  of  these  rooms  was  assigned  to  the  pil- 
grims, one  to  the  Turkish  drivers  and  a  few  other  Turks,  and 
the  third  to  the  donkeys  and  camels  and  horses. 

Can  you  imagine  what  the  best  room  in  the  khan  is 
like  ?  The  carpet  is  of  a  dark  brown  color  and  is  what  is 
commonly  known  as  dirt.  If  our  visit  had  happened  to  be 
in  rainy  weather  it  would  have  been  mud. 

There  was  one  small  mercy  to  be  thankful  for,  it  did  not 
rain.  Along  each  side  of  the  room,  about  two  feet  from  the 
floor,  were  wooden  platforms  about  four  feet  Avide  with  just 
room  enough  to  walk  between  them.  On  one  of  these  plat- 
forms we  set  up  a  narrow  cot  bed,  and  arranged  our 
trunks,  boxes,  and  food ;  for  all  our  valuables  must  be 
kept  in  the  same  room  with  us  or  they  would  probably 
be  stolen.  On  the  other  platform  were  two  other  tipsy 
cot  beds  which  also  served  for  sofas  and  tables. 

The  walls  of  the  room  "were  of  rough  stone  and  mortar, 
frescoed  with  smoke.  The  ceiling  was  of  rough  rafters  also 
frescoed  with  smoke.  The  chandelier  was  a  tallow  candle. 
This  room  was  to  be  not  only  sleeping-room,  but  sitting-room 
and  dining-room  and  parlor  for  all  of  us  !  The  other  occu- 
pants of  the  room  were  fleas  and  other  objectionable  room- 
mates.    This  room   was   a  fair  sample  of  the  quarters  in 


G30  THE   WEARIEST   WOMAN   IN   TURKEY. 

which  we  ate,  and  slept  every  night  during  the  whole 
journey  across  Asia  Minor,  There  was  abundant  oppor- 
tunity "  to  come  out  strong  ". 

In  the  morning  there  was  sometimes  a  mountain  stream 
to  wash  in,  and  that  was  a  great  luxury.  Oftener  there  was 
a  tin  or  brass  vessel,  something  like  a  teapot,  from  which  a 
little  water  could  be  poured  on  our  hands  and  an  unsatis- 
factory apology  for  a  bath  could  be  obtained. 

ISTevertheless,  the  journey  over  the  Taurus  mountains 
was  delightful  and  interesting,  and  the  scenery  was  grand 
enough  to  make  up  for  all  the  weariness,  discomfort,  and 
annoyance.  All  that  any  wagon  could  do,  that  wagon  did  ; 
but  there  are  limits  to  the  possibilities  of  even  an  American 
spring  wagon  in  Asia  Minor,  and  when  the  road  was 
absolutely  impassable,  as  was  frequently  the  case,  we  were 
obliged  to  walk.  Anyone  who  could  have  looked  across  the 
lands  and  seas  at  the  close  of  the  last  day  of  that  wagon 
journey  would  have  seen  one  of  the  most  forlorn-looking 
women  in  Turkey. 

After  traveling  for  days  across  a  barren,  treeless  plain, 
we  at  last  saw  indications  of  approaching  civilization,  and  it 
was  evident  that  we  were  drawmg  near  to  the  land  of 
railways.  The  villages  became  more  frequent  and  life  more 
interesting,  "We  had  been  riding  all  day  from  six  o'clock  in 
the  morning  till  six  o'clock  at  night,  stopping  at  noon  at  a 
little  Koordish  village  for  lunch,  which  we  had  eaten  in  the 
wagon.  Our  lunch  consisted  of  bread  —  which  was  rather 
dry,  after  having  been  carried  in  the  wagon  for  six  days  — 
some  native  butter,  which,  at  its  best  was  never  inviting, 
boiled  eggs,  cold  meat,  and  doughnuts,  all  of  which  were 
stale  enough  after  their  long  journey.  It  was  cold  in  the 
wagon,  but  it  was  so  much  cleaner  than  any  other  place 
in  the  neighborhood  that  it  seemed  desii'able  to  stay  there. 


AN  UNATTRACTIVE   OUTLOOK.  631 

Ali,  our  trusty  servant,  succeeded  in  finding  a  fire  some- 
where, suflBcient  to  brew  some  tea,  which  made  the  repast  a 
trifle  more  cheerful,  for  the  tea  at  least  was  hot.  The 
village  was  one  of  the  poorest  and  dirtiest  on  the  route. 
From  my  seat  in  the  wagon  were  to  be  seen,  by  actual 
count,  thirteen  dead  sheep,  a  dead  camel,  a  dead  dog,  and  a 
dead  donkey,  all  lying  in  the  village  streets,  left  there  for 
nature  to  take  care  of.  Some  of  them  had  evidently  been 
dead  a  good  many  days.  ]N"ot  a  pleasant  outlook,  to  be  sure, 
nor  one  that  contributed  to  the  enjoyment  of  our  frugal 
meal. 

It  hardly  seems  possible  that  people  could  really  live 
amid  such  surroundings.  And  yet  the  little,  dirty,  ragged 
children  trotted  about  the  streets,  picking  their  way  past 
dead  animals  and  live  dogs  with  equal  indifference,  and 
apparently  as  happy  as  any  other  children  anywhere,  and 
looking  hale  and  hearty,  too,  in  spite  of  the  filth  and  dirt. 

We  often  found  compensation  for  all  the  jolting  over 
rough  roads  in  the  great  beauty  of  the  scenery,  after  leaving 
the  barren  plain  and  getting  into  the  hilly  region  again. 
With  a  north  wind  blowing  in  our  faces  all  day  we  found 
ourselves  so  cold,  as  the  night  drew  near,  that  we  were  glad 
enough  when  at  last  we  reached  the  little  village  where  we 
were  to  spend  the  night,  knowing  full  well  what  kind  of 
quarters  we  should  probably  find. 

Did  it  ever  happen  to  you,  my  sister,  to  take  a  long,  cold, 
wearisome  journey,  and  then  to  find  when  you  reached  home 
at  night,  a  warm,  pleasant  room,  with  a  bright,  cheery  open 
fire,  and  a  good  hot  supper  waiting  for  you  ?  Did  you  not 
forget  all  the  weariness  of  the  journey  in  the  pleasant  home- 
coming ?  Visions  of  that  sort  entranced  us  occasionally  as 
we  journeyed,  but  alas,  they  were  only  visions.     What  we 

usually  found  at  the  end  of  the  day's  journey  was  the  same 
38 


632  A   NIGHT   IN 'a   stable. 

little  dirty  Turkish  village  of  low  stone  buildings,  occupied 
by  surly  Turks.  I  remember  one  night,  especially,  when  the 
owners  of  the  miserable  house  were  so  cross  that  they  either 
could  not  or  would  not  find  the  key  to  the  only  guest 
chamber  in  the  village.  Thev  were  tired  and  hunofrv,  for  it 
was  the  month  of  "  Ramazan  ",  —  they  had  been  keeping  fast 
all  day  —  and  they  did  not  feel  amiable  enough  to  do  any- 
thing for  those  "Giaours". 

At  last,  however,  after  patient  waiting,  the  key  was  found 
and  the  door  unlocked.  Passing  through  the  stable,  which 
was  worse  than  any  American  stable  could  possibly  be,  then 
up  a  flight  of  dirty  stone  steps,  we  were  ushered  into  a  little" 
room  directly  over  the  stable.  Leaving  me  to  my  own 
meditations,  the  men  hurried  out  to  unpack  the  wagon.  I 
looked  around  for  the  cleanest  place  in  the  room,  but  there 
wasn't  any.  There  was  no  place  to  sit  down,  so  I  stood  up, 
glad  that  it  was  so  dark  that  I  couldn't  see  how  dirty  it  was. 
How  I  longed  for  my  own  cellar  at  home,  or  my  neighbor's 
barn  chamber  I  I  even  felt  a  sympath}^  for  the  prodigal  son 
when  he  envied  his  father's  servants.  Fortunately  there  was 
not  much  time  for  the  dolefuls,  for  soon  the  tramping  of  feet 
on  the  stairs  proclaimed  the  arrival  of  the  bed  and  trunks 
and  provisions.  It  seemed  to  be  absolutely  necessary  either 
to  laugh  or  cry,  and  with  a  "  Herculaneum  effort,"  as  Mrs. 
Partington  would  have  said,  I  decided  to  laugh.  The  cot 
beds  were-  soon  set  up,  and  one  of  them-  served  for  a  table 
and  the  other  for  a  lounge.  The  one  small  candle  gave  a 
feeble  light,  reminding  one  of  those  lines  of  Milton's, 

"No  light  but  rather  darkness  visible 
Served  only  to  discover  scenes  of  woe." 

The  canvas-covered,  ricketv  cot  bed  made  a  table  that 
was  never  to  be  depended  upon,  and  neither  was  it  so 
attractive  as  some ;  but  when  it  was  covered  with  a  table- 


IT   MIGHT   HAVE  BEEN  WORSE.  633 

cloth  it  answered  the  purpose  very  well,  and  harmonized 
with  the  surroundings.  Ali  succeeded  in  getting  some  hot 
water,  and  made  something  which  he  averred  was  cocoa,  and 
though  we  had  neither  milk  nor  sugar  to  go  with  it,  we 
supped  and  ate  our  dry  bread  and  stale  butter,  and  tried  to 
be  thankful  that  things  were  no  worse. 

When  the  door  of  the  room  was  shut  it  kept  out  some  of 
the  odors  of  the  stable.  There  were  three  tiny  little  win- 
dows in  the  room,  each  about  eight  or  nine  inches  square 
and  completely  covered  with  paper  tightly  pasted  on. 
After  bearing  it  as  long  as  we  could,  we  broke  some  of  these 
paper  panes  for  the  sake  of  fresh  air,  though  the  outside  air 
was  not  much  better  than  that  on  the  inside. 

Perhaps  my  readers  may  wonder  why  we  were  willing 
to  sleep  in  such  a  place,  but  such  wondering  is  easily  an- 
wered.  In  the  first  place  it  must  be  said  that  we  did  not 
sleep  much,  we  only  stayed  there,  and  in  the  second  place  it 
was  only  " Hobson's  choice" — it  was  that  or  nothing. 
That  was  the  best  room  in  the  village,  and  the  next  village 
was  twenty  miles  aAvay. 

We  wxre  thankful  when  the  night  was  over  and  were 
perfectl}^  willing  to  rise  early  in  the  morning  and  go  on  our 
way.  The  experience  of  each  day  and  night  was  very 
much  alike.  We  enjoyed  the  interesting  glimpses  of  home 
life  to  be  seen  nowhere  else  than  on  such  a  journey  as  this; 
and  one  or  two  days  spent  with  native  Armenian  families 
added  variety  to  the  experiences.  We  were  cordially  wel- 
comed in  these  native  Christian  homes  and  were  treated 
with  great  hospitality,  and  although  Armenian  ways  are  not 
American  ways,  and  some  of  their  customs  were  not  easy  to 
adopt,  yet  we  retain  only  pleasant  memories  of  those  visits 
with  our  Armenian  friends. 

It  was  an  interesting  sight  to  see  a  tiny  Armenian  baby 


634  IN   ARMENIAN   HOMES. 

put  to  bed  in  one  of  these  homes.  A  little  blanket  was  first 
laid  in  the  cradle,  then  a  small  sheet,  then  some  warm,  dry- 
sand,  and  last  the  baby.  The  sheet,  blanket,  and  two  or 
three  little  quilts  were  then  drawn  around  him,  and  the 
baby  was  securely  tied  down,  blankets  and  quilts  and. all, 
and  there  he  must  lie  till  morning,  with  no  power  to  move 
anything  except  his  head.  The  little  one  usually  accepted 
the  situation  cheerfully  and  submitted  with  o^ood  ffrace. 

The  women  in  these  Christian  families  were  treated 
kindly  by  their  husbands,  but  their  position  was  an  inferior 
one.  They  waited  upon  their  husbands  and  their  guests 
at  the  table,  and  then  took  their  own  meals  by  themselves 
afterwards.  They  appeared  happy  and  contented,  but  to  an 
American  woman  their  lives  seemed  hard  and  narrow. 

But  what  a  joyful  company  we  were  when  the  first  part 
of  the  journey  was  over,  and  we  arrived  at  the  homes  of 
missionary  friends  in  Caesarea  and  Talas,  It  was  like  a  peep 
into  paradise  to  come  into  a  clean  Christian  home. 

How  we  appreciated  the  common,  every-day  mercies  that 
we  had  so  often  forgotten  before.  Did  you  ever  count  up 
your  mercies,  good  housekeepers  at  home  ?  Do  you  know 
how  good  it  is  to  live  in  a  house  and  sleep  in  a  bed  ?  Are 
you  sufficiently  thankful  for  clean  dishes,  or  for  the  privi- 
lege of  making  them  clean?  Are  you  grateful  for  cold 
water  and  a  clean  glass  to  drink  it  out  of  {  Did  you  ever 
think  how  pleasant  it  is  to  have  a  plate  all  to  yourself  to  eat 
breakfast  from,  instead  of  having  one  dish  set  in  the  center 
of  the  table  for  all  the  family  to  dip  their  spoons  into  ?  Are 
you  thankful  enough  for  the  good  bread  that  you  eat  every 
day?  Do  you  ever  thank  the  Lord  that  you  have  not  a 
house  full  of  fleas?  Are  you  thankful  that  your  neighbor 
has  clean  hands  so  that  you  can  shake  them  without  a 
shiver  ? 


DISCOMFORTS   OF   THE   MISSIONARIES. 


635 


If  my  experiences  on  this  overland  journey  through 
Turkey  serve  to  make  any  one  more  thankful  for  the  bless- 
ings of  home,  or  to  make  any  of  us  feel  more  sympathy  for 
our  missionary  friends  who  have  to  endure  many  more  dis- 
comforts than  have  been  hinted  at  here,  and  who  endure 
them  cheerfully  and  gladly  for  the  sake  of  the  work,  then 
the  purpose  for  which  this  brief  record  has  been  written  will 
have  been  accomplished. 


CHAPTEE  V. 

GOOD-BYE. 
'GOD  BE   WITH  YOU   TILL  WE  MEET  AGAIN." 

The  Departure  from  San  Francisco  —  The  Crowded  Wharf  —  "  All  Ashore 
that's  Going  Ashore  " —  The  Song  of  Farewell  —  The  Captain's  Encour- 
agement —  Good  Cheer  for  All  —  A  Never-to-be-forgotten  Song  —  In 
Moreton  Bay  —  On  Board  the  CMngtu  —  Our  Friends  on  the  Launch  — 
Chattering  Chinese  —  A  Voice  from  the  Tarsluiw  —  An  Unappreciative 
Listener — Another  Precious  Memory  —  At  a  Railway  Station  in  Oka- 
yama  —  Japanese  Courtesy  —  The  Train  Waits  for  the  Song  —  In  a 
Chinese  Schoolroom  —  The  Lively  Little  Junior  —  The  Dear  Old  Hymn 
in  Chinese  —  In  a  Little  Hill  Town  of  India  —  Departure  in  the  Early 
Morning  —  Surrounded  by  Ghosts — "God  Be  With  You  "in  Hindu 
Dialect  —  A  Brown -faced  Boy  Choir  —  Sweet,  Lingering  Echoes  —  A 
Blessed  Memory  of  Friends  in  Distant  Lands. 


fllE  good  steamship  Mariposa  is 
just  ready  to  sail  from  San  Fran- 
cisco for  Sydney.  Tiie  last 
warning  has  been  given  —  "  All 
ashore  that's  going  ashore" — 
and  the  wharf  is  crowded  with 
people  who  are  waiting  to  wave 
a  last  good-bye  to  friends  on 
board.  The  last  whistle  sounds 
and  the  steamer  is  off.  But  as 
she  starts,  some  earnest  Christ- 
ian Endeavorers  on  the  shore  lift 

up  their  voices,  and  the  sweet  strains  of  "  God  be  with  you 

till  we  meet  again,"  float  on  the  air. 

The  passengers  are  walking  up  and  down  the  deck  talking 

busily  together,  but  they  pause  a  minute  as  they  hear  the 

(^636 ) 


BEGINNING   THE   LONG   JOURNEY.  637 

sweet  sounds.  The  captain  is  full  of  serious  thoughts  of  the 
long  voyage  before  him,  and  of  the  great  responsibility  that 
rests  upon  him,  and  there  is  a  lump  in  his  throat,  so  he  tells 
us  afterwards,  as  he  stops  to  listen  to  the  words : 

"  When  life's  perils  thick  confound  you, 
Put  His  loving  arms  around  you." 

and  the  "God  be  with  you"  will  linger  in  his  mind  for  many 
a  day  as  he  sails  over  the  lonely  seas. 

The  sailors  who  are  hoisting  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  pause 
a  minute  as  they  catch  the  sound  of 

"  Keep  love's  banner  floating  o'er  you," 

and  the  timid  passenger  who  feared-  the  dangers  of  the  long 
voyage  was  cheered  as  she  heard  the  reassuring  words. 

Fainter  and  fainter  grow  the  sounds,  but  three  pilgrims 
still  linger,  looking  longingly  towards  the  shore  to  catch  the 
very  last  strains.  They  are  starting  on  a  long,  long  journey, 
and  their  hearts  are  sore  at  the  thought  of  all  they  are  leav- 
ing behind  them,  and  of  the  long  year  that  must  intervene 
before  their  return.     As  the  last  faint 

"  God  be  with  you  till  we  meet  again  " 

dies  away  upon  the  air,  their  hearts  are  cheered  and  com- 
forted, as  they  go  on  their  way. 

Perhaps  those  Christian  Endeavorers  will  never  know 
just  how  many  were  helped  and  strengthened  by  their  song 
that  hot  August  day,  but  those  who  were  helped  will  not 
soon  forget  the  song  or  the  singers. 

IN  AUSTRALIA. 
Once  more  the  scene  is  on  shipboard,  but  this  time  the 
crew  and  many  of  the  passengers  are  Chinese.  The  steamer 
Chingtu,  which  has  been  anchored  for  a  few  hours  in  More- 
ton  Bay,  is  just  starting  on  a  three- weeks  voyage  from  Aus- 
tralia to  China.     Near  by  is  a  little  steam  launch  which  has 


638  THE   PARTING   SONG. 

come  from  Brisbane,  to  bring  some  passengers ;  and  a  com- 
pany of  our  friends,  who  have  come  so  far  with  us,  are  wait- 
ing for  a  last  good-bye. 

The  captain  stands  on  the  deck  talking  with  one  of  the 
passengers.  The  crew  are  busy  in  their  several  places,  and 
the  Chinese  passengers  on  the  forward  deck  are  jabbering 
fast  and  loud.  Three  pilgrhns  on  the  upper  deck  are  leaning 
over  the  rail  for  a  last  look  at  kind  friends  whom  they  are 
leaving,  and,  just  as  the  steamer  starts,  a  voice  from  the  Tar- 
shaw  strikes  up  the  tune  "  God  be  with  you  till  we  meet 
again." 

A  gentleman  who  is  standing  near,  turns  to  the  captain 
and  remarks :  "  You  never  had  such  a  send-off  as  this  before, 
did  you  ?  "  "  JSTo,"  says  the  captain,  gruffly,  "  and  I  don't 
want  to  ag-ain,"  and  thev  both  turn  away  and  walk  to  the 
other  side  of  the  deck,  but,  as  he  turns,  the  captain  cannot 
help  hearing  the  sweet  "  God  be  with  you,"  and  it  may  be 
that  the  words  still  linger  in  his  memory  to  help  him  in  some 
future  hour,  though  he  cares  not  for  them  now. 

The  few  first-class  passengers  seem  indifferent,  and  the 
Chinamen  on  the  lower  deck  cannot  understand  the  song; 
but  to  the  three  pilgrims,  Avho  are  still  looking  lovingly 
across  the  water  as  the  Tarshaio  sails  awav,  the  words  have 
another  precious  memory  associated  with  them,  and  they  lis- 
ten eagerly  till  the  very  last  note  dies  away  in  the  distance. 

IN  JAPAN. 

This  time  the  scene  is  in  a  raihvay  station  in  Okayama. 
"We  have  taken  our  seats  in  the  train,  and  while  we  rejoice  to 
be  facing  homewards,  yet  our  joy  is  tinged  with  sadness  as 
we  say  a  last  good-bye  to  dear  missionary  friends  and  Jap- 
anese friends  alike. 

"We  wonder  when  or  where  we  shall  meet  again  these 


THE   SONG  IN  JAPAN  AND   CHINA.  639 

friends  who  are  so  dear  to  us,  when  suddenly,  the  sweet 
notes  of  "  God  be  with  you  till  we  meet  again,"  ring  out  on 
the  air.  Japanese  voices  and  American  voices  take  up  the 
strain,  and  the  Japanese  railway  guards  stop  to  listen.  It  is 
past  the  hour  for  the  train  to  start,  but  Japanese  politeness 
will  not  interrupt  the  sweet  good-bye,  and  even  the  "  Impe- 
rial Japanese  Railway"  waits  for  that  song. 

As  the  last  "  God  be  with  you  "  dies  away,  the  train  starts 
on  its  journey,  while  the  three  pilgrims  go  on  their  way 
with  a  song  in  their  hearts. 

IN  CHINA. 

Imagine  a  large  schoolroom  not  very  unlike  an  old- 
fashioned  N"ew  England  schoolroom.  The  desks  are  not  of 
the  latest  style,  and  the  room  is  not  very  elegant,  but  it  has 
been  prettily  decorated.  On  the  walls  hang  bright-colored 
scrolls,  with  Chinese  characters  inscribed  on  them,  express- 
ing cordial  greetings.  In  the  back  of  the  room  are  pretty 
floral  decorations,  also  in  Chinese  characters,  giving  a  Chinese 
welcome.  The  rows  of  benches  are  filled  with  bright-eyed 
boys  and  young  men,  dressed  in  Chinese  costume,  and  with 
their  long  queues  hanging  down  their  backs. 

In  the  back  of  the  room  are  a  few  Chinese  women,  and 
one  little  Chinese  baby,  who  has  come  to  this  Christian  En- 
deavor meeting,  probably  to  represent  Junior  Endeavor. 
The  meeting  is  a  very  interesting  one  though  it  is  all  in 
Chinese,  and  the  little  junior  adds  to  the  interest  by  creeping 
down  the  aisle  and  expressing  his  applause  by  patting  on  the 
platform  with  his  baby  hands. 

Just  before  the  close  of  the  meeting,  some  slips  of  red 
paper  on  which  are  inscribed  some  Chinese  characters,  are 
passed  around  among  the  audience.  A  twelve-year-old 
Chinaman  takes  his  place  at  the  cabinet  organ,  and  the  audi- 
ence all  rise  and  begin  to  sing.     The  complicated  Chinese 


640  OUR   GOD-SPEED   FROM   INDIA. 

characters  on  the  red  paper  are  unreadable,  and  the  unpro- 
nounceable words  have  no  meaning  to  American  ears,  but 
there  was  no  mistaking  the  tune.  Once  more  the  three  pil- 
grims listened  to  the  beautiful  "  God  be  with  you,"  and 
though  they  could  not  join  in  singing  the  Chinese  words,  yet 
they  understood  the  tune  and  in  the  spirit  could  join  in  the 
song.     Then  in  Chinese  and  English,  the  prayer  arose, 

"  By  His  counsel's  guide,  uphold  you, 
With  His  sheep  securely  fold  you. 
God  be  with  you  till  we  meet  again." 

May  that  i^rayer  be  answered,  and  may  all  who  suno-  it 
that  day  in  that  great  heathen  city  be  ready  always  to  fol- 
low the  teachings  of  the  "  Good  Shepherd,"  and  be  led  by 
Him  in  the  paths  of  righteousness ! 

IN  INDIA. 

It  was  early  morning  in  the  little  hill  town  of  Madana- 
pali,  so  early  that  even  the  first  rays  of  the  sun  could  not 
yet  be  seen,  and  the  moon  was  still  shining  brightly  in  the 
heavens.  It  is  three  o'clock  m  the  morning,  and  the  three 
pilgrims  are  just  starting  on  their  homeward  journey.  The 
large  old-fashioned  missionary  wagon,  drawn  by  diminutive 
white  oxen,  stands  at  the  door,  for  they  are  seven  miles  from 
the  nearest  railway  station. 

As  they  climb  up  into  the  high  wagon,  and  start  on  their 
long  drive,  they  take  one  last  look  around  them.  How  quiet 
and  peaceful  it  all  looks !  There  is  the  mission  bungalow 
and  the  long,  low  school  building,  and  the  little  church  on 
the  other  side  of  the  compound.  Suddenly,  some  ghostly 
figures  rise  before  them  in  the  moonlight  and  surround  the 
wagon.  Before  they  have  time  to  be  alarmed,  they  recog- 
nize the  ghosts,  for  these  are  the  boys  from  the  mission 
school.     Draped  in  their  white  clothes,  some  with  white  tur- 


GOD   BE  WITH   YOU   TILL  WE  MEET   AGAIN.' 


641 


bans  and  some  with  brown  caps  on  their  heads,  they  have 
come  out  at  this  early  hour  for  a  last  good-bye. 

As  the  little  white  oxen  start,  the  boys  run  along  by  the 
side  of  the  wagon,  singing  their  farewell : 

"  God  be  with  you  till  we  meet  again. 
"When  life's  perils  thick  confound  you, 
Put  His  loving  arms  around  you, 
God  be  with  you  till  we  meet  again." 

This  time  the  song  is  sung  in  the  Telugu  tongue,  but  it 
sounds  sweetly  in  the  ears  of  the  pilgrims  as  they  ride  away 
over  the  hills,  and  they  wall  not  soon  forget  the  bright, 
brown-faced  Indian  boys  who  sung  it. 

Many  more  memory  pictures  might  be  given  if  time 
and  space  allowed.  To  these  three  pilgruns  the  song,  ''  God 
be  with  you  till  we  meet  again,''  will  always  bring  u])  many 
delightful  memories  of  then-  journeyings  in  other  lands. 


RARE  BOOK 
COLLECTION 


THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 

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